YIPPEE!!! LOOK WHAT I JUST FOUND!

After much agonizing and searching, mumbling, grumbling. I finally found the old information and can get back in business again.

Tonight I will make brownies using the recipe from a 1944 Better Homes and Garden cookbook. It was a wedding gift to my mom. Back then they didn't have chocolate squares available, so the recipe uses powdered cocoa, all pantry items . . . . it was during WWII after all!

I will post the pictures, original recipe and make-a-mix version as well.

Mexican Gray Squash

This last weekend we got Mexican Gray Squash in our Bountiful Baskets. I have only tried it once and it was pretty unimpressive. I was commenting on it when Maria told me how she fixes it. It sounded so good that I had her email the recipe to me. One guess what supper will be tonight!!

MARIA'S MEXICAN GRAY SQUASH     
May 3, 2010  -  UPDATE @ BOTTOM 

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 med chopped onion
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2-3 cups squash, diced
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen, I sometimes add 1 can of creamed corn
• 1/2 cup chopped mild green chile, roasted, with skin removed OR bell pepper you don’t need to removed skin
• 1 cup diced tomatoes (I use Roma tomatoes) OR 1 small can of diced tomatoes
• 6 green onions, chopped (optional)
• ¼ bunch chopped fresh cilantro
• ¼ to ½ cup cream/half & half OR grated Mexican cheese (cheddar, monterey are good too)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook the onions over medium until onions are transparent. Add the garlic and cook.

2 minutes more.

2. Add the squash and cook about 5-10 minutes until softened.

3. Add corn, scallions, chiles or bell pepper cook 3 minutes.

4. Stir in the tomatoes and then the cilantro.

5. I used to add cream I don’t any longer (my for my cardiac diet) heat through,

6. Add cheese and season with salt. Serve hot or warm.

I have some leftover ground beef already cooked and will probably use a little of that in it to make it a complete meal in a dish, my favorite!

May 3, 2010 Update 

Tonight I made this again and added:

•  2 - chicken thighs, diced & sautee'd first.
•  2 -  of the jalapeno peppers, diced.  
•  1 - lime squeezed over it in my dish.
•  1/2 oz. -  grated cheese. 

I have my whole meal in one dish and it is yummy!

SHARRON'S FAVORITE QUICK BISQUITS

Many times, I didn't have the time to make bread and let it rise, etc. Since necessity is the "mother of invention", I had to come up with some other ideas. If you want to review my favorite muffins click HERE.

So here are my favorite quick biscuits!

SUPREME BISCUITS (from Better Homes & Garden cookbook)

2 cups sifted flour (if you don't want to sift it, remove 2 T.)

4 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t cream of tartar

2 t. sugar

1/2 c. shortening or butter

2/3 c. milk

Sift or mix the dry ingredients together using a whisk. Cut the shortening or butter in. (I use the hand mixer to do it quickly). When it looks evenly crumbly, add milk all at once and mix with a fork until it is evenly moist and you can push it into a ball that will hold together loosely. Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it just enough to make it hold shape a little better. DO NOT OVER KNEAD!!

Roll it out to about an inch thick and cut the biscuits. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Makes about 12 average size biscuits. I usually use a larger cutter, even have used a tuna can if I think we might use some of them to make sandwiches later.

BUTTERMILK SUPREME BISCUITS

To use buttermilk, add 1/4 t. baking soda to dry ingredients. Use same amount of buttermilk or soured milk. If you are going to sour milk with lemon juice or vinegar, add the souring agent first thing, stir and set aside for it to sour while you do the rest of the recipe. It will make a bigger difference.

GARLIC CHEESE BISCUITS (like Red Lobster's!)

Mix 1/2 c. finely grated cheddar cheese with the dry ingredients.

Half way through the baking, brush with melted garlic butter. When you take them out, brush them once again with the garlic butter. To make the garlic butter, mix 1/3 c. melted butter with 1/2 t. garlic powder. This will make it fairly mild flavored. Some recipes call for 2 - 4 cloves of garlic, which would ward off cold germs for a day or two . . . maybe even vampires or amorous husbands ;>}

Tomorrow I will be making a bucket of the mix and will take more pictures of the process and equipment then. I was in a hurry today and couldn't take the time to take the pics. I will also post the amounts for a volume mix.

Sharron's "Half Fat" Butter

I have been threatening to come up with a good way to get my buttery taste on my veggies without being totally "wicked". So tonight I came up with this to dip my artichoke in.

SHARRON'S "HALF-FAT" BUTTER

1 cup buttermilk

1 T. cornstarch

1/2 c. butter

1/2 t. salt

Mix the cold buttermilk and corn starch using a whisk. Start cooking over medium heat, stirring. When it starts to thicken, add the butter and salt. Continue stirring until well blended.

I thought it was pretty good dipping the artichoke in it and then tried it over some

steamed broccoli. It stayed on the broccoli, didn't just run to the bottom of the bowl and tasted great. I forgot to take pictures, so I will make another batch tomorrow and take the pics then.

I just spread it on some toast. It made the toast a little soft but tasted good with jam and as cinnamon toast .

Tomorrow I will try it on corn on the cob . . . YUM!

I tried it and loved it! My daughter who tends to be a little pickier also tried it and said that it was good.

March 25, 2010

I just made a batch of this Butter Sauce with only 1/4 cup of butter.  it's good but not really quite yummy.

After making it several times, I have realized that as soon as it thickens, it is best to add the butter, blend and remove from heat.  

Promises, Promises . . . . . Germ Warfare . . . .

I am going to learn to not be such an "optimist" some day. The other foot has remained down on the ground, firmly planted, but we will survive it, just as we did the first few years of marriage.. the bugs already swirling around town might be another story!

Three weeks and I am finally feeling less crummy . . which brings me to something I feel is important.

What are we all doing to stay healthy?

I'm "only 59" not that old, reasonably healthy, compared to many in my stage of life, but three weeks and still counting, is a little longer to take to get over a simple cold! So I would like to refer you to this post on another blog. Click HERE. It could save you a lot of money, misery and yes, even your life. I have known people who have almost lost their lives or have, to simple bugs that are going around.

Please teach your kids, spouses and yourselves to

WASH YOUR HANDS.

• Use soap!
• Use warm water.
• Scrub as long as it takes to sing the birthday song in your mind.
• Dry them and then use the paper towel to open the door if in a public place. If there is no trash right by the door, carry it with you until you see a trash can, with the surface the touched the door handle folded in so that you don't touch it again.

This such a simple thing, that it must sound too insignificant but it isn't!

**I really trying to get some more posts together, but between being sick, babysitting grand kids or taxiing them and helping with a couple of weddings, I have been a little overloaded.**

The Other Foot Finally Dropped . . . . All Is Well, All Is Well

I need to preface this post that I just copied from my personal blog. It will explain a little journey we have been on for some months now. click here.

I Love to Be Needed . . . .Especially When No PooPoo Diaper is Involved!

This last week has brought a lot of reflecting and lots of sharing between Jon and I. Either he has learned to act a lot better or I am still of use to the sweet ole' guy.

We are now officially on our second round of being "newly weds" and living on our food storage with cinched up belts. Jon has suggested two notches. Isn't he too cute and funny? I do love my funny hubby! He doesn't realize we have already cinched up past that, preparing for the "just in case" scenario.

That may sound discouraging, but it isn't. (Give me a break, it's the "first" day.) for entertainment, we used to get some silly idea and be out the door in 20 minutes, or less to have some great free or really cheap fun . . . . no movies were ever dreamed of, not even matinees. I could pack a picnic lunch in no time! That included a baby after 10 months and cloth diapers. We can do it again . . . well maybe not quite as fast.

Jon's folks gave us money to go out on our second anniversary and we were so uncomfortable in a reataraunt that we didn't know what to do with ourselves . . . until ran into a family we knew from church and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Tonight's hot date is Jon watching football with his head on my lap, kind of, snuggling with two chihuahuas and me blogging before I send out the food storage info to my ward members. He just unknowly corrected me, he said he is "having quality time with his dog that just growled at him". Shall I let him read this before or after I post it? I think after? After, he doesn't know how to take it off the blog to preserve his dignity.

We were eating our food storage, but back then we didn't realize how little of it we had. Now, we have to walk around it, no matter what room we are in. I did have more in bottles, but we didn't have a freezer. I knew 3-4 ways to fix beans, now I have too many ideas to count and the Internet.

Now our biggest problem is how not to over feed our bottoms, not how to grow healthy babies. We now have grown children with good ideas and we can share and work together to make things work, like cars ;-D, taxi service, grocery shopping, splitting stuff so that we can use up larger, cheaper quantities and have nothing go bad.

So time to throw out the lemonade and bring on the lemon chiffon pie. Sure glad I froze up all those lemons last winter! See Below

Thinking Out of The Box . . .

Instead of making cheese over the last week, I decided to finish up doing something with all of the citrus coming off our trees in the back yard. Finish one project before starting the next ... blah, blah, blah.

I knew we would never eat all the tangerines, so I decided to bottle them. The quarts are kind of big, but they will bre a wonderful treat after chilling in the fridge next summer. Just cost me a few lids I didn't have on hand.

Everytime I looked at the lemons and saw the beautiful rinds, I felt so wasteful just throwing them. So one day for lunch I ate and made lemon zest with a bunch of them. I figured I saved about $10 in the half hour it took to eat lunch.

Can't stop there, can we? Next trip to the store I got oranges, with gorgeous rinds, of course. A bottle of orange zest runs about $5, now saved. While running around Costco on Wednesday, trying samples with the granddaughters (great entertainment and those little gals are great food critics ;-) , some limes, with gorgeous rinds, reached out, grabbed me, and just begged to be taken home with us. I've never seen lime zest, but come on, how often do we squeeze a little lime juice over our Mexican food? Close your eyes and just imagine the wonderful flavor if a little zest was thrown in the pot at just the right time?

When I learned how to make Copy Cat Orange Chicken (Panda Express style), that has no orange juice in it, only zest. Any one interested in that recipe, regular or pantry style?

I realized this could be used to make all kind of wonderful dishes, with food storage items. All three mixed would probably make the best polynesian merinade ever!