Chicken Broth - Can It!

Aren't they purty?

I cooked a couple of whole chickens a while back and had these lovely carcasses, necks, and giblets left over.  I'd also been making a lot of chicken-based soup, and I was getting tired of buying cans and cans of chicken broth.  Brain wave - I'll make my own!

A lot of people who make their own broth freeze it, but I didn't want to waste valuable freezer space with something that could easily be made shelf stable, so canning was the preservation method I chose.

I've canned pickles, beets, tomatoes, green beans, and jams and jellies, but never broth.  I got out my copies of the Ball Blue Book and a collection of USDA bulletins for my research project.  Because broth isn't acidic or full of sugar, it MUST be pressure canned.  No water bath canning!  So here's how to make and can your own broth.

My canner has a pressure dial regulator, but
the USDA prefers weights instead.

Chicken Broth

Chicken carcass(es), broken up
Chicken giblets
Chicken necks
Leafy tops from celery
1 or 2 Carrots, large, cut into 2-inch pieces
10 Black peppercorns
2 Bay leaves
Water to cover
1 t Salt per quart of water

Get out your largest stockpot and put in as many chicken carcasses, giblets, and necks as you can fit loosely.  Add the rest of the ingredients, measuring the water as you add it, one quart at a time.  Bring it to a boil, cover, turn the heat way down and simmer 3-4 hours.

Strain out all the STUFF - bones, vegetables, spices - and chill overnight in the refrigerator.  Skim the fat off the top of the chilled broth.  You can save it and use it to make chicken gravy later, if desired.

So that's the process to make the actual broth!


CANNING THE BROTH

To can your homemade broth, you'll need a real-for-real pressure canner like the one pictured above.  They're sold at Walmart and farm stores like Rural King or Tractor Supply.  Do NOT use an Instant Pot or similar electric pressure cooker.  Make sure you read the instructions carefully before using it.  Also, make sure your stovetop is suitable for canning.  Your owner's manual will have that information.

Clockwise, from the upper
left:  jar lifter, canning
funnel, lid, and ring.

Some inexpensive gadgets will make the job easier.  A canning funnel has a wide opening that just fits in the jar's mouth.  A jar lifter makes handling the jars safer when you're transferring them into and out of the canner. 

So if you're going to take the plunge, decide whether you're going to use quart or pint jars and wash them well in hot water (or the dishwasher!), make sure you have enough lids and rings (two-part lids) for the jars and wash the rings.  Always use NEW lids.  The rings are meant to be reused - they just hold the lids in place until the jars are sealed.

Bring the broth back to a boil.  Put about 3 quarts of water in the canner.  Put the canner's rack in the bottom of the canner.  Ladle broth into each jar to 1 inch below the rim (if you're using a canning funnel, that's just to 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, 20 minutes for pints and 25 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 pressure relief valve 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.  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, but as long as the jar rims are clean before you put the lids on, that shouldn't happen.

Laundry Festivities

Laundry is so much FUN.

About 3 1/2 months ago, the washing machine got loud.  Not just louder than normal, but LOUD.  It sounded like a freight train was running through the house.

A year and a half ago, that same machine had gotten loud (read about it here).  Again, LOUD.  But that was a gradual buildup.  This time it was sudden.  Last time, we took out the drum and some motor components and replaced the shaft and seals.  It took ALL DAY, but we got it done.

So it was the same deal this time around, except, to be honest, I don't want to deal with pulling the drum out and all that hoo-haw on an annual basis, so I ordered a new washing machine.  Usually, I buy the matching dryer at the same time, but this time, after over a year of That Knee keeping its owner on long-term disability, we decided to replace only the washer.

So the washer was delivered and installed, and everything was just GRAND.

Until the DRYER started making noise, just a couple of months later.

REALLY?

So, I googled the problem and found the probable cause - a bad idler arm, and possibly the drum rollers.  I didn't want to deal with removing THAT drum, either, so I only ordered an idler arm assembly online.  It arrived just a few days later.  I took the back off the dryer and replaced the assembly - a pretty quick fix.

Except it wasn't fixed.

RATS.

The new laundry twins!

I was fed up with it and decided to just buy a new dryer like I should have done when I bought the washer.  By this time, the coronavirus pandemic was heating up, so I couldn't go into the store.  I got online and ordered a dryer.  It was a Saturday, and according to the website, the dryer would be delivered the following Tuesday.  I received an email confirming the day and time for delivery.

Well.

That Monday, I was notified that because of the coronavirus pandemic, the dryer couldn't be delivered and installed at that time, but PERHAPS they'd be able to JUST deliver it - drop it off at the door, and we'd have to get it inside and hooked up.  They'd let up know.

Long story short, a month later I got a phone call - when would I like to have the dryer dropped off?  I said how soon can you get it here?  So it arrived two days later.  I asked the delivery guy to remove the box for me.  It was the WRONG DRYER.  Not their fault.  I'd somehow clicked on the wrong machine.  Good grief.

I got on the phone and requested to return the wrong one, then got online (AGAIN) to order the right one.  You bet I checked and rechecked that it was the correct machine that time!!!

The right one was delivered, the wrong one was taken away, and my new dryer has been doing a great job for a couple of weeks, so I'm happy!

EPILOGUE

The day the right dryer arrived, I read the whole manual (yes, I'm special that way) and saw an optional accessory - a dryer rack.  It's for drying your athletic shoes or wool sweaters - you know, those things they tell you either not to tumble dry or to dry flat - what a pain.  I'd seen a dryer rack mentioned in the manuals of my two previous dryers and have coveted one for twenty years now - maybe longer.  I'm afraid the stay-at-home orders have taken a toll, because I said to myself, "Why not?"

The dryer rack inside the dryer.

And I did.

I got online (AGAIN - seems I'm spending an inordinate amount of time online these days) and researched and price checked and ordered a dryer rack!  If you've never seen one, it's a platform that you slide inside the dryer, place your items on, choose your settings, and turn on the dryer.  The drum is supposed to rotate while the rack remains stationary.  The rack is pretty big, and when I unboxed it, I thought, "How the heck will THAT ever fit?"  But it did!

I placed the rack inside the drum, turned the dryer on as a test, and, shockingly enough, the drum DOES rotate while the rack does NOT!  Now I'm looking forward to washing something that needs to be laid flat to dry.  What will it be?  Oh, I can hardly wait!

It sure doesn't take much to get me excited, does it?  What a nerd!

Toys in the Kitchen - Part 4, and Red Pepper Chicken (A Slow Cooker Recipe)

I came across this recipe, and it sounded WONDERFUL.  I like red bell peppers, and I like dump and go slow cooker recipes, so this one was right up my alley.  But slicing up all those bell peppers and the onion - what a mess!  Red pepper juice all over the counter and me.

This is the classic 14-cup
Cuisinart food processor.

So I used the food processor.  It was fast, and it kept everything contained - less mess.  By the time I'd sliced the peppers and the onion, the processor's bowl was full.  When I bought the food processor, I thought it might be too big, but after this I decided I'd gotten the right one.

I waffled back and forth a LONG time before I decided to pull the trigger and buy the food processor.  I'd read reviews and recommendations and found the one I thought I might consider buying, but it was just too expensive for me to buy it and then find out I wouldn't really use it much.  The Amazon price was about 10 percent less than the manufacturer's list price, but still.  I put it on my Amazon wish list and left it there.

A while later, Amazon sent a notification - the price had dropped - 25 percent less than the Amazon price.  Well, that was more like it!  But again, it was still kind of pricey for something I wasn't sure I'd use a lot, so I waited.

I waited too long.  The price went back up.  Rats!  But I left it on my wish list - that way I'd know where to find it if I decided to buy it.

Just a couple of weeks after the price went back up, it dropped again - this time, to 50 percent of the Amazon list price.  That worked for me - I ordered it!

So I've been playing with it off and on.  It's fast, which is great, but it's also REALLY easy to clean, and that makes me even happier I bought it.  I haven't tried all the things I'd like to do with it, but I've made a good start

Anyway, here's the recipe!  Super easy, and super tasty!


Red Pepper Chicken

4-6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 2 1/2 pounds), cut into strips
3-4 red bell peppers, sliced into strips
1 yellow onion, sliced
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c olive oil
1/2 t crushed red pepper (cayenne) flakes
1/2 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
1 bay leaf

Put everything in the slow cooker in the order listed.  Drizzle the oil over the top, and sprinkle the red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper over all.  Place the bay leaf down the side of the pot so it's near the bottom.  Cook on low 6-8 hours, or high 3-4 hours.  Serve over rice.

Quick Chicken Saute with Bacon and Scallions (In My Cast Iron Skillet)

Here's another quick and easy recipe using those Chick-zilla boneless skinless breasts.  They generally run close to a pound EACH.  For this recipe, I use two of those huge chicken breasts.  I have to use my large 12-inch cast iron skillet because my largest Revere Ware skillet is only a 10-incher, and it just isn't big enough for those bad boys.

This is a pretty quick recipe, and it doesn't have a lot of ingredients, but it is super tasty!  I serve it over either spinach egg noodles or regular ol' egg noodles, and add a vegetable on the side.


Quick Chicken Saute with Bacon and Scallions

8 slices bacon, chopped
2 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast, sliced
6 scallions (green onion), chopped
1/4 c chicken stock or broth
1/4 c white wine (if you don't have any wine, you can replace it with more chicken stock or broth)

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add bacon and brown.  After the bacon is cooked, add chicken and brown on both sides.  Chicken is done when the juices run clear.  Add the liquids and stir in the scallions.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Serve with the liquid over noodles.

Everything's GROWING!

It's finally gotten warm enough and dry enough for me to play in the yard and garden.

The garden has lain mostly fallow the past couple of summers, but by golly, I'm going to have a garden this year!  So I got out a couple of days this week and started digging in the dirt and touring the yard.

And like a good tourist, I took a boatload of pictures!  Here we go!

Peonies have flower buds!

A tiny buckeye forest!

A violet carpet! 

Golden forsythia.

One of ninety-six yellow
daffodils in the back.

Asparagus, at last!

Wildlife in the garden!

A fancy daffodil by the porch.

Some random tulip!

The BEST Way to Cook Bacon

Cooking bacon in a skillet is messy, messy, messy, and the bacon usually isn't cooked evenly.  Part is nearly raw and limp, part is too crisp and almost burned, and the rest is how you want it.  Not ideal.

You can cook bacon in the microwave, and it comes out pretty good - evenly cooked and fairly flat, but all those paper towels!  What a waste!!!

You can buy pre-cooked bacon, but it's relatively expensive, and there aren't as many flavor/thickness combinations as there are in raw bacon.

Bacon fat in a jar.

But if you cook bacon in the OVEN, whoa!  It comes out evenly cooked and flat, and you only need one or two paper towels to soak up the excess grease.  Most of the bacon fat stays in the pan, and it's really easy to save it by pouring it into a glass jar and refrigerating it.

You can cook an entire package at one time, and if you're not going to use it all, you can either freeze or refrigerate the cooked bacon and use it one slice at a time.  Just zap it in the microwave and you can make a nice, warm bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.

Some recipes will have you cook some bacon, then add things to the bacon and its fat.  In those cases, I start with some of my refrigerated bacon fat, add some of my pre-cooked bacon, get it hot, and there you are - just continue with the recipe as written.

So here it is...


Oven-Cooked Bacon

1 package bacon (1 lb regular thickness or 1 1/2 lb extra thick)
sheet pan (well, technically a half-sheet pan!)

Lots of ingredients, right?  Well, it's not really a recipe - more like instructions!

So, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and set the rack in the lower third of the oven.  (If you want the bacon extra crispy, put the rack in the lowest position).  Separate the bacon slices and place them on in the sheet pan in a single layer.  You can shove the slices as close together as you possibly can - just don't overlap them.

Put the pan in the oven.  Cook about 20 minutes for regular bacon, and about 30 minutes for extra thick.  Check it about 5-10 minutes before it's supposed to be done.

While the bacon is cooking, put one or two paper towels on a plate.  When the bacon is finished, carefully remove the pan from the oven.  There will be lots of bacon fat in the pan and it is HOT.  Don't get burned, and don't spill it!

Using tongs, remove the slices of bacon from the pan and put them on the paper towel-lined plate to soak up the excess fat.  Store or serve.

If desired, let the fat cool for several minutes.  While it's still liquid, pour it into a GLASS jar.  Put a lid on it and refrigerate.  Use it where you usually use bacon fat or shortening for cooking.

Kitchen Window Hydroponics

The celery after 4 days.

The scallions after 4 days.

Remember setting a stalk of celery in a glass with some water and a little food coloring and watching the daily progress of the color rising up the stalk?  How about putting the very top of a carrot in a little pan (usually from a frozen pot pie!) of shallow water and growing feathery carrot tops?  Or growing the seeds from lemons, oranges, and grapefruit in little paper cups of dirt?  Or suspending an avocado seed in a glass of water and seeing it sprout?  Those were some of the fun things Mom used to allow us to do in "her" kitchen!

Well, while I was waiting for the weather to dry out and warm up so I could dig up the garden and start planting my little seeds, I indulged in what I like to call "kitchen window hydroponics."

I've seen some pictures people have posted online of celery and scallions (green onions) growing on their kitchen counters and I decided to give it a try.  I had celery and scallions, so when I cut up the celery (I'd made Buffalo wings and needed celery and bleu cheese dressing, natch!), I saved the bottom, stuck in some toothpicks, and suspended it in some water in a tiny bowl.  When I needed some scallions for a recipe, I cut off all the green and some of the white, left them bundled in their rubber band, and put them in a coffee cup with a little water.  I change the container and water at least every other day to keep things from getting slimy and gross.

The celery, 3 days later!

The scallions, 3 days later!

It's amazing how quickly growth starts.  I mean, I could see things starting the very next day!  It's kind of exciting, watching these vegetables regenerate.  When the scallions get a few inches taller, I'll cut them off again and use those new tops.  I'm reserving plans for the celery, but it actually has stalks already.  We'll see how big it gets and what I'll be able to use it for.  FUN!!!

Maple Glazed Salmon (A Sheet Pan Recipe)

When it was difficult to find chicken at the grocery store, I grabbed a couple of packages of wild-caught salmon.  I put them in the freezer until I could decide what to do with them.  That Girl had told me about a salmon sheet pan dinner, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought I'd like to give it a try.

I'd never made a sheet pan dinner.  They got really popular a couple of years ago and there were sheet pan dinner recipes in magazines and on the internet, and people shared them like mad!  I never got into the craze then, but last week I was ready to take the plunge.

I started with oven roasted potatoes (click here for the recipe) on my sheet pan.  While they were cooking, I opened a package of frozen green beans and dumped them into the bowl I had used for tossing the potatoes in olive oil and seasonings.  I added a tablespoon of oil and some more salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

After the potatoes had been in the oven for 20 minutes, I took them out, turned on the broiler, shoved them to one side of the pan, dumped the beans on the other side of the pan, and put the salmon in the middle.  It all went under the broiler for 9 minutes.  Done!  Here's the recipe for the salmon itself.  You can substitute sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, or whatever you want for the potatoes and green beans, but you'll have to adjust the roasting time depending on what you're cooking.  Just make sure to put the salmon in at the point where there's about 10 minutes left of the typical roasting time.

If you want, you can cook the salmon alone and use other cooking methods for your sides.


Maple-Glazed Salmon (A Sheet Pan Recipe)

1 1/2 to 2 pounds salmon fillets (4-5 fillets)
1/4 c maple syrup
3 T Dijon or coarse-ground mustard (I had neither, so I used horseradish mustard instead)
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Take the fillets out of the package, rinse them, then dry them off with a paper towel.

Turn the broiler on high.  Mix the remaining ingredients together, place the fillets at least 1/2 inch apart in a sheet pan sprayed with non-stick spray, spread the glaze evenly over each fillet.

Broil 7-10 minutes about 4-5 inches from the broiler element.  The glaze will caramelize and the salmon will be pink and opaque and will flake easily with a fork.

Acorn Squash - Super Easy, and Almost Dessert!

An acorn squash and a grapefruit spoon
- see the serrations along the spoon's edge?

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when the grocery store produce departments weren't well stocked (actually they were nearly EMPTY), I couldn't find potatoes or onions or apples or bananas or much of anything, but there were quite a few acorn squashes. 

Because it's spring here, and the acorn is a winter squash, it seemed a little odd to find so many of them.  I like them, though, and who cares what time of year it is, as long as they're in good shape, which these were.  No soft spots!  They should be firm and dark green.  There can also be a yellow or orange area where the squash sat on the ground.

I bought a couple and held on to them until Easter, when we had a big ol' spiral-sliced ham, acorn squash, and rolls, and they were yummy!

Oh, all that melted butter
and brown sugar
and maple goodness - YUM!

Easy Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash
2 T butter
4 T brown sugar
4 t maple syrup

Cut the squash in half lengthwise with a heavy chef's knife, scoop out the seeds and fibrous material, and score the flesh in a hatch pattern with a paring knife.  Pierce the skin all over with the point of a knife. 

Place the squash in a microwave-safe dish, cut side down, and add an inch of water to the dish.  Cover with plastic wrap and vent one corner.  Microwave on high power for 20 minutes.

Preheat the broiler for 5 minutes.  Place the squash cut side up in a broiler-safe pan.  In each half, place half of each of the remaining ingredients.  Broil on high for 5 minutes until the butter is melted.

TIPS:  1.  Acorn squash is rock hard and difficult to cut.  To make it easier, microwave the squash for one minute, then cut the squash from tip to stem - just TO the stem.

       2.  Don't try to cut through the stem.  Cut to the stem, then grasp the halves and break it open the rest of the way.

       3.  Make sure to use a large heavy chef's knife.  If you still have trouble getting the squash cut, you can use a rubber mallet to help the knife along.

       4.  A grapefruit spoon makes scooping out the innards really easy (see the photo above right).

       5.  Overcooked is better than undercooked.

       6.  For each additional squash, add 20 minutes to the microwave time.  OR you can bake several squashes in the oven, cut side down, in a baking dish or pan with 1 inch of water in the bottom, at 400 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Then broil in a pan with no water.

       7.  For a savory, rather than a sweet, dish, use butter, garlic, and salt instead of the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup.

My Big Feet - Again!

The stay home orders have given a lot of us extra time to do things we'd normally put off.  Some people are writing.  Some people are decluttering.  Some people are painting walls.  Some people are painting paintings.  Some people are sewing.  Some people are crocheting.  Some people are knitting.

I have a not-so-secret vice - buying sock yarn.  I LOVE knitting socks.  Socks are interesting to knit and super portable, plus, when you're finished, you get to wear them!  I don't know that I'll ever have the time to knit up all the sock yarn in my stash, though.

Crazy stripes and interesting colors are my favorites.  I used to wear my hand-knit socks to work - meetings and all - sort of my little bit of nonconformist belligerence.  Nobody could see them under my slacks, but I knew they were there, and that's what counts!

Anyway, I've worn through the toes and heels of a few pairs, but lately, it gradually dawned on me that when I wore my socks, the ends of my big toes ached at the end of the day.

I knitted all my socks exactly per the pattern's directions.  But...

I HAVE BIG FEET.

So why the heck did I make my hand-knitted socks the standard women's size?

Maybe they were too short?

Well duh!

I tell you - NO BRAIN.

So I started knitting my socks longer in the foot, and that fixed my problem - no more sore toes!

EXCEPT...

There were still four pairs of older socks that I absolutely REFUSED to get rid of.  I liked their colors and designs, and I still wore them, but at the end of the day, my poor toes ached.  I kept avoiding wearing them, but I couldn't get rid of them, either.

After ruminating on the problem for several weeks, a plan emerged - I'd make the socks longer!  Because they are knitted from the cuff down, I cut off the last couple of rows of knitting at the toe of each sock, found the end of the yarn, tugged at it, then unraveled the entire toe to the place where you start shaping the toe.  I rolled the loose yarn into a ball, picked up the stitches, and started knitting.

See the black toes!!!

When the raveled yarn ran out, about two rows into the new toes' shaping, I attached black sock yarn and continued to the end, adding about an inch to the length of each sock.

So here's the result!  Four additional pairs of COMFORTABLE socks, with a minimum of time and effort.

Now, to the yarn stash!  Gotta start making more socks!!!

Confetti Bean Soup (A Pantry Recipe)

This is the same recipe as for Seven-Bean Soup that I found on a bag of dried mixed beans eons ago.  I'm too lazy to soak dry beans, so I use canned.  I call it confetti bean soup because I use every kind of canned bean I can find in the stores, and so with all the different shapes and colors of the beans, the soup looks kind of like confetti.

We had ham for Easter, and I always freeze some of the leftovers in one-pound portions specifically to use in this soup or Senate Bean Soup.  Most of the other ingredients come straight out of the pantry, so I always have the ingredients on hand.


Confetti Bean Soup

2 T canola oil or butter
1 large or 2 medium onions, chopped
12 or 13 15-oz cans beans* (all different kinds), drained and rinsed
2 c water
3 15-oz cans diced tomatoes
2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes with green chilis
2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes with garlic and onion
1 10-oz cans Ro-Tel (Hot)
2 T red pepper flakes
3 T lemon juice
1 or 1 1/2 lb cooked ham, cubed or shredded

In a large (12-quart) stockpot, brown the onion in the oil or butter.  Add the remaining ingredients; bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes. 

*These are the beans I use:  black, dark red kidney, light red kidney, red, pink, pinto, cannellini, garbanzo (chickpeas), black-eyed peas, baby butter, navy, great northern, and lentils.  If you can't find this many kinds of beans, or you don't want to make this much (it's like an ocean of soup!), the proportion of canned tomatoes to beans is 1 to 2, and if there is an odd number of beans, then add another can of tomatoes.  So, in this recipe, there are 13 cans of beans and 7 cans of tomatoes (don't count the Ro-Tel).  If you only have 10 cans of beans, you'll need 5 cans of tomatoes. You choose the varieties.

Sloppy Joes (From Mom's Recipe Card File)

Like everyone else staying home because of the coronavirus pandemic, we've been eating at home, which means I've been cooking and cooking and cooking.

When I want to make something I can count on to please everyone, I often fix Mom's "Barbecue," or Sloppy Joes!  It's a simple, all-pantry-ingredient recipe (except for the buns) that we never tire of eating.  Great comfort food.  I make it about every other week.

I make a large-ish batch so I'll have leftovers.  It freezes well, but we usually end up eating it all in a couple of days.  Something else I like to do is to mix all the sauce ingredients up and freeze that.  Then all I have to do is grab a container of sauce out of the freezer and add it to 2 pounds of lean ground beef and 1 cup of chopped onions, browned.  I usually make two to four containers of sauce at a time.  So convenient!


Sloppy Joes

2 lb lean ground beef
1 c chopped onions
1 1/2 c ketchup (I like Heinz)
3/4 c sugar
3 T mustard
1 T prepared horseradish (or to taste)
1 T vinegar
1 1/2 t celery seed
1 1/2 t Worchestershire sauce

Brown the ground beef and onion.  If not using lean ground beef, drain; if using lean ground beef, cook until nearly all the juices have evaporated.

Add the remaining ingredients, simmer about 20 minutes.  Serve on sandwich buns.

I'm Turning into My Mom - Vintage Pyrex Mixing Bowls

Every now and then a memory surfaces.  Growing up, Mom would let us loose in the kitchen from time to time.   

We used to make Chef Boy-Ar-Dee pizza kits, usually on Friday nights.  These kits came in a box containing a bag of crust mix, a small can of sauce, and an even smaller can of grated Parmesan cheese.  

To make the crust, you mixed warm water into the crust mix and let it sit in the bowl several minutes.  There was yeast in the mix and so it needed to sit and rise.  I loved the smell of the dough rising!  When the time was up, we'd grease up our hands with Crisco shortening and stretch the dough over the pizza pan, then pour on the sauce and sprinkle the cheese.  Bake it in the oven, cut it up, and EAT!  Those were the simplest, least complicated pizzas ever, and were they ever CHEAP! 

We used a Pyrex mixing bowl (the smallest one) to mix the dough for the crust.

Another favorite kitchen creation was chocolate chip cookies.  Good old Nestle Toll House cookies (but no nuts - yuck!).  Out came another Pyrex bowl - the largest one.  Mixing the cookie dough took real effort - we should have had one arm more developed than the other just from mixing.  I'm lazy now - thank heaven for my stand mixer!  

I loved those Pyrex mixing bowls.  We used them for everything.  If it needed mixing, out came the Pyrex bowls.  Over the years, they disappeared one at a time - breakage took its toll.

I've had different mixing bowls over the years, and never found ones I really liked.  About a year and a half ago, one of my friends and I were heading home from southern Indiana and decided to stop at a huge flea market.  Let's go browse!  In one of the first few booths, there they were - vintage Pyrex mixing bowls!  

Oh, how I coveted those bowls!  But they were expensive - $75 for a complete set. Oh my.  I showed great restraint, however, and deferred the decision.  Since then, I picked up a couple of the largest bowls and one of the second-largest.  The two smaller sizes are difficult to find because they were generally used the most, so suffered more breakage.  

I looked online; I looked in antique stores.  What I found were bowls that had been well used - they weren't glossy anymore, and even worse, places where the color had worn off.  I despaired of completing my set.  Finally, I walked into my favorite LOCAL antique mall, and there they were - pristine!   Amazing.  

I gave the extra of the largest bowls to That Girl so she can make "puppy chow" (A.K.A. Chex Muddy Buddies) and I have the rest.  I LOVE using those bowls.  They make me happy.

I guess I'm trying to relive my childhood.

Not a bad thing.

Staying Home and Social Distancing - What I'm Doing

With the coronavirus crisis, we're staying home like everyone else, except for periodic foraging trips to the grocery.  I cook - a LOT.  I clean.  I actually bleach my kitchen counters and sink, something I never did before.  I'm taking a short-term online American history course from Hillsdale College.  I'm trying to learn Tai Chi on YouTube.  I make to-do lists and try to check things off.  I scroll through FaceBook.  I'm working on painting watercolors.  I'm knitting hats for the 2021 NBA All-Stars volunteers.  I'm crocheting chemo caps.  Not all at once, of course!

We're also watching a LOT of television.  Thank heaven for cable TV while we're staying home.  Turner Classic Movies and MeTV really get a workout!

There are daily visits from the likes of Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Blondell, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Clara Bow, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Ruby Keeler, and a zillion others.  I especially like the movies on Silent Sundays - I"m glad we can DVR those - they start at midnight!  Not that I wouldn't stay up all night to watch them, but...!  Not a good idea, when I'm doing home health care right now, and medicines need to be doled out at specific times.

There's a boatload of MeTV to watch, too - Leave It to Beaver, The Flintstones (!), Green Acres, Hogan's Heroes, The Andy Griffith Show.  And we've officially turned into Old People - after dinner, we watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

Oh my.  We're turning into our parents.  I guess someone has to.

On top of all this, because of CDC recommendations, I've started making face masks for us.  I cut up material yesterday, and today I started assembly.  There's a nice pile to work on, as you can see.

So, plenty to DO.  I had long lists of things I wanted to do after retiring, but now my lists are somewhat different.  

But...

IT'S ONLY TEMPORARY.

Lime Perfection Salad (From Mom's Recipe Card File)

My sister and I went to lunch with one of our cousins a while back, and saw Lime Perfection Salad listed on the menu as one of the choices of side items.  Well, it wasn't what I expected; it was lime Jell-O with pineapple in it, and a dab of mayonnaise on the side.  There were a few things missing from it, as far as I was concerned.

This is another vintage recipe from my mom's recipe card file.  She got it from one of my great aunts, Auntie Ruth.  She married my dad's mother's brother, Raymond, and they treated Dad like their own son, so we visited them quite a bit.  When we ate dinner with them, more often than not, they'd have Lime Perfection Salad, and that's where I first had it.

In their younger days, Auntie Ruth and Uncle Raymond had run a tea room in Boston, and this is something they served there.  If I had known what the ingredients were ahead of time, I probably would have refused to eat it, but it is delicious!  I used to make it and take it to work for lunch.

Just for fun, I Googled "lime perfection salad" and oh, the hits!  But there was only one that was even close to what I'm used to.  Most had lime Jell-O, pineapple, and CABBAGE as ingredients.  Uh, NO.  One was almost the same, except for the addition of sweetened condensed milk.  I think that would be too sweet.  A couple had cream cheese in them.  Hmmmm...

Anyway, here's the version I'M used to, and it's pretty good!

Lime Perfection Salad (8 servings)

1 large package of lime Jell-O (or lemon!)
2 c boiling water (NO COLD WATER)
2 c cottage cheese
1 20-oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 c mayonnaise

Dissolve the Jell-O in the boiling water.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Pour into a gelatin mold, or divide among 8 small molds or bowls.  Refrigerate until well set.

NOTE:  It's not necessary to stir after first mixing in the cottage cheese, pineapple, and mayonnaise.  The mixture doesn't tend to separate like most gelatin molds do.

Shrimp Creole (Another Easy Pantry Recipe)

Zatarain's used to make a Creole rice mix, but after McCormick bought them out, I guess they decided that particular product wasn't necessary anymore.  I actually bought a case of it on Amazon when I couldn't find it in the stores.  When that was gone, I played around, trying to figure out a replacement.  Here's what I eventually came up with, and it's not bad at all!


Shrimp Creole from the Pantry

1 T butter
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopped celery
1 chopped bell peppers
1 T minced garlic
1 1/2 t creole seasoning
1 15-oz can stewed tomatoes
2 1/2 c water
1 box Zatarain's jambalaya rice mix (not family size)
12-oz package frozen, cooked, shelled, tailless shrimp

In a 4-quart saucepan or dutch oven, melt butter, add the onion, celery, bell peppers, and garlic.  Saute until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the seasoning, tomatoes, water, and jambalaya mix.  Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer 15 minutes.  Add shrimp, bring back to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer 10 minutes.