I Remember Thinking My Sister Is Cool

My youngest sister doesn't like us to tell stories about her when she is around.  She isn't around but she will read this, I'm not sure if that counts or not.  So I will go easy on her.  She was a kid with spunk.  As she got older, she mellowed a bunch.  We all were thankful for that.  She and I got along very well once she stopped pulling my hair.  I can only recall one argument we had, and it was over folding clothes so it really was no big deal.  We look a lot alike also, and now her daughter looks like us also.  It is often difficult to tell who the picture is of unless you look at the clothes or the background.  In fact, the other day I showed my mom a picture of me when I was about 1 that I had scanned and put online.  My mom says, "she looks like you."  I chuckled and said that is me.  She thought it was my niece.  As my sister and I got older, we began to have own distinct look with a few similar features.  So hopefully, my niece will have her own beautiful look.

When I went off to college, my sister was only 11.  So missed a lot of her teenage years.  But we did have a few good years together.  Our personalities fit well together.  I'm very much a type A and she is very laid back and goes with the flow.  I also got along well with her best friend.  My sister has been friends with her best friend since they were very little.  She is like another sister to me.  She was always around, and we loved having her over.  On the occasion that our friend needed to go home, I would take her.  We made a game of going to her house.  I would let the girls give me directions.  We usually ended up driving all over town before we would make it to her house.  I really enjoyed that time with the girls.

After my sister became a teenager, she didn't seem to care what people thought of her.  I wish I had that when I was in high school,  I wish I had that confidence in me.  I remember thinking my sister is cool.  She doesn't care that she's cool and that make her even cooler.  She is now grown, married and has 2 great kids and one on the way.  And she is still cool.

One of my sister's favorite things I cook is Potato Soup.  Or at least I think it is.  She asks me to make it when I see her.  So for my cool sister, I will share my recipe.


Potato Soup
4 medium russet potatoes
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
6 slices bacon
6 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp flour
5 cups milk
1 can corn
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Wash and peel potatoes.  Cube potatoes and boil until just under done.  Finely chop onion.   In a large pot, cook bacon.  Remove bacon, set aside, and add onion to bacon drippings.  Saute on medium heat until onion is tender. Add minced garlic and saute for about 30 seconds.  Add butter and melt.  Add flour, stir together, and add milk.  Whisk mixture until all the flour mixture is dissolved.  The mixture will thicken up.  After mixture has thickened, add drained can of corn, salt & pepper.  Once the potatoes are done, drain and add to the large pot.  Crumble the bacon (I used kitchen shears to cut it up) and add to pot.  If the soup is too thick, you can add 1/2 cup more milk.  It may also need more salt.  During the process of making the soup it is important to stir often.

Enjoy!

I Knew I Was Late and I Knew I Was in Trouble.

You've heard the saying "better later than never."  Well, my dad has his own - "if you're not going to be on time, you might as well not go."  I think I live somewhere in between.  Although after many years of "if you're not going to be on time..."  I tend to be early.

My dad was rather strict.  I had a curfew that as a teenager I thought was too early.  I don't know what time it was but it was of course too early.  Occasionally, I was late.  It was rare because I always got grounded when I was late, even if by my watch I was on time.  One time I came in late.  I knew I was late and knew I was in trouble.  I walked straight through the living room, past my dad and to my room.  After I got down there, I realized I needed to take my contacts out.  I decided I would just sleep in them.  It was better to do that than face my dad.

One time I was late and had no control over it.  At 16 I was allowed to date.  I had a boyfriend already but we didn't go on dates other than football & basket ball games, and church events.  So I was excited to go on real dates.  I can't remember my first real date, but I know I had fun dating.  One evening, my boyfriend and I went out to a friend's house.  She lived out in the country and a bunch of us were getting together out there.  I don't recall what we did out there.  I think movies and just hanging out.  Time came for us to leave because I had a ridiculously early curfew.  My boyfriend had a pickup that could be considered antique.  It was pretty cool looking.  I think it was a '58 GMC.  I'm not positive on the year.  But it didn't always run the way we wanted it to.  Occasionally, we had to cancel dates because it wouldn't start.  Well this particular night, it wouldn't start for us to leave our friends house.  He tried several times, and finally I called my mom.  She was going to come out and get me.  I didn't think that was a good idea.  It was dark and I didn't know how we got out there.  I promised her I wasn't lying and that really the truck wouldn't start.  I don't know much about engines but I think sticking a hose in there isn't a great thing to do.  But with this truck that's what got it running.  After about a half hour, the truck was running again. And we were headed home.  I think I was about an hour late, but because of the phone call I didn't get into too much trouble.  I'm not sure that my parents truly believed me about the pickup not starting, but they let me slide.  Thankfully, because I really was telling the truth.

Now that I'm an adult, I don't have a curfew anymore so I can't get into trouble for being late getting home.  But we often are running behind to get where we need to.  Occasionally, I'm running behind and need to take a dessert with me.  I have found a dessert that doesn't take too long to make and can bake while I'm getting ready.

Fresh Berry Crumb Pie
Crumb Crust/Topping
1 cup almonds
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Filling
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tbsp constarch
2 pints fresh berries (such as raspberries, blackberries and/or strawberries)

Preheat oven to 350.  Spread almonds on a baking pan and place in oven.  Roast almonds about 10 minutes or until roasted.  Remove nuts from the oven and put into a food processor. Increase the oven temperature to 450. Chop the nuts in processor for about 10 seconds.  In a large mixing bowl, mix chopped nuts, flour and sugar.  Cut butter into the mixture with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form.  Press half the crumb crust into the bottom and sides of  a deep dish pie plate.  In a medium mixing bowl, mix together sugar, berries & cornstarch.  Mix gently until cornstarch and sugar are mixed in.  Pour berry mixture into the pie plate.  Pour the rest of the crumb crust evenly over the top.  Bake until the top is golden brown and filling is bubbly about 30 minutes.  Cool for about 10 minutes before serving.  Best served warm.

I like to eat the leftovers for breakfast.

Those Were Special Worms

My oldest nephew is 9 months younger than me.  He has been more like a brother to me than a nephew.  He spent a few summers with us.  He was far more adventurous than I was.   We always seem to get ourselves into some kind adventure.  I am going to try to not incriminate anyone in this blog, but some of the things we did weren't always what we were supposed to be doing.  We never did hurt anyone too badly or burn anything down!

For entertainment in the summer, we would get out my dad's golf clubs and whiffle golf balls.  We didn't want to break any windows! We hit the balls around quite often.  We also liked to hit birdies over the fence -our makeshift badminton net.  And we loved to dig holes to China in the back of the garden till mom got us a "sand box" to dig in.  It was more of an old tractor tire with dirt in it. But it worked for us.

We, of course, needed money.  Our plan was to sell worms to the fisherman.  Mom would water the lawn in the day so at night we could go out and catch the night crawlers.  We caught a lot, and made a lot of money.  We first put a sign in the yard.  We had some sales, but not what we had hoped for.  We went down and talked to the local tackle shop about selling our worms to them.   We got a lot more sales with them.  The tackle shop introduced us to a guy who would buy the worms by the pound.  We made a lot of money selling our worms that way.  We couldn't seem to get enough worms in our yard and the neighbor's yard.  So we started going down to the church and getting worms there.  For kids, we did very well selling our worms.

One night, I had a mishap with a worm that is still to this day burned into my mind.  We had gone over to the church to get worms.  I patiently waited for the worms to come up.  Had my flashlight, which of course had red cellophane over the light so the worms couldn't see the light.  I spotted a worm, reached down, grabbed it and it screamed at me.  I know you are thinking worms cannot scream.  But it did.  I then screamed, jumped back and ran.  My mom and nephew thought I was crazy.  But really it did scream.  No longer would I go worming at the church.  Those were special worms.  Worms with vocal cords.  I stuck to worming at home or at the neighbors.  Fortunately the summer was coming to an end, and it didn't put too big of a dent into the money we were making.

I don't really remember what we used our money for.  I'm sure candy.  I don't think what we were buying with the money was the important part.  It was the actual making of the money.  We loved to sit around in the day and discuss how we were going to do this differently that we could get more worms.  I think the red cellophane was something the guy at the tackle shop told us about, and it seemed to help.  Worming brought my nephew and I closer.  It was something we worked together for.

When I look back to the summers spent at home, I recall worming, baseball, wading pools, sunflower seeds and sweet iced tea.  Iced tea has been a part of my life as long as I can remember.  I'm even drinking it right now.  However, I should be drinking something warm.  It has rained, snowed, and sleeted for over 24 hours. I am a little bit chilled.  A few years ago I discovered a recipe for Spiced Cider.  It's a great comforting warm drink.  I hope you like it as much as I do.

Spiced Cider
1 gallon apple cider
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp whole cloves
6 sticks cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a large pot.  Stir until brown sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Strain cinnamon sticks and whole cloves out.  Serve in mugs.

Not Even the Dogs Would Eat It

Today was a day spent with lots of friends.  Friends I've had for a long time.  We got to talking about old memories from school.  I went to a small Christian school.  All the students knew each other and multiple grades were grouped together in classes.  There was a small group of us that were really close.  Some of the group are still friends.

I moved away from this area for about 15 years, and after moving back I felt like I just fit right back in with all of them.  We all know each other so well.  My best girlfriend from this group and I spent a lot of time together growing up. We met when we were 9 & 10.  We did a lot imagining together.  She lived not too far from the lake, and we would walk down to the shore to look for old things.  I think I still have a glass bottle that I found.  Because the town used to be where the lake is now, there are lots of antique things in that lake.  Sometimes those things wash up on the shore.  Treasure hunting was always fun.  We also played cards, dolls, rode mats down the stairs, and were just kids.  One of our favorite passtimes was baking together.  We experimented with things.  Some things turned out well and others didn't.  We once made a cake-like thing.  It started out as cookies but once we added strawberries it was no longer that.  It also turned pink.  We tried adding chocolate to turn it brown again, but it never really was anything but a pink goo.  After baking it, not even the dogs would eat it.  I don't think we kept that recipe.

I think our experimenting with recipes gave me the confidence to experiment with other recipes.  I rarely leave a recipe as is.   I think my changing of recipes drove my mom nuts, but I had fun with it.  One of my more recent recipes I changed is Chicken Pot Pie.  It's also a great recipe for a cold day, which it is here.  We've already gotten our second snow of the season.  I think really our first real snow.  It hasn't started sticking yet but we are supposed to have an inch in the morning.  Yay.  I love snow.  To warm up your home with this Chicken Pot Pie below is the recipe.

Chicken Pot Pie

2 Pie crusts*

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cups chicken broth

3/4 cup milk

2 medium russet potatoes

1 cup carrots, chopped

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 can corn, drained

4 chicken breast halves

Salt & pepper to taste

Chop potatoes and carrots.  Boil until tender.  In a glass baking dish, place chicken breasts and cover with plastic wrap.  Cook in microwave for about 7 minutes or until chicken is done.  In the meantime, in a large saucepan, saute onions in butter.  Once onions are tender, add flour.  Mix until it becomes a paste.  Add broth and milk and whisk until there are no lumps.  Add peas and corn.  When chicken is done, shred and add to the pot pie filling mixture.  When potatoes and carrots are done add them also.  Add salt & pepper to taste.  In a deep dish pie plate, place one pie crust.  Prick with a fork and bake according to the pie crust directions.  After crust is done, pour filling into the crust.  Top with the second pie crust and bake according to the directions.  Serve while it is hot.

*I use store bought pie crusts.  I am too lazy to make my own.

We Had Been Dancing to His Music All Week.

Summertime was always a great time as a child.  Some summers were spent at grandma's house in California and some were spent in Idaho with my nephew staying with us for the summer.  Summers at Grandma's house were always really hot.  We spent a lot of time indoors watching movies or playing on the computer.  To get relief from the heat, my grandparents would take me to see my cousins in the Bay Area.

I always had a good time with my cousins. One summer, we swam in the neighbors pool while they were on vacation.  Another summer, we went to Santa Cruz to the beach boardwalk.  Some of the most vivid memories I have of spending time with my cousins is making up dances to music in the backyard.  The 80's were a great time.  We were so excited when we got to see Bryan Duncan in concert.  We had been dancing to his music all week.  He was so cool.

Spending time at Grandma's gave me opportunities to experience new things. We went to Marine World.  I visited the ocean for the first time with Grandma.  I got my introduction to computers while I was there.  Of course, it was a Commodore 64, but it was a computer none the less.  My grandma was great at introducing me to new things.  She on the other hand didn't really care for new things.  She liked things the way they were.  She liked the food she liked and didn't need to try anything new.  Me on the other hand likes to try new things.  I like finding new recipes to test out.  When I would find a good one, I wanted to share it with my grandma.  She liked to tell me that they were bad ideas.  One of those recipes was my Chicken & Fruit Salad.  She said it sounded awful.  But she ate it and loved it.

Chicken & Fruit Salad
1/2 Red apple, cubed
1/2 Green apple, cubed
5 small chicken breast halves, cooked and cubed
1/2 bunch of red or green grapes, halved
1 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley, optional
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup celery
Salt & pepper to taste

In a small bowl, mix mayo & vinegar.  Mix remaining ingredients.  Pour dressing over salad and stir.

Go Put Some Clothes On

The weather has turned cold this week.  Some people aren't happy about it at all but I enjoy dressing warm and the cold crisp air.  I love baking and making soups. So I am loving the change of weather.

Although I like the cold weather, I don't like being cold.  I like to turn up the heat, snuggle under blankets, and wear sweatshirts.  When I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of money.  My parents moved to Idaho to start a church when I was 4.  Starting a church isn't a money making venture.  It is full of rewards, but money isn't one of them.  To save money, we kept our thermostat a little lower than I liked it.  I often would complain that I was cold and my dad would say "go put some clothes on."  I would tell him I have clothes on and he would tell me to put more on.  At one point, we got a space heater.  My favorite spot in the house was in front of that space heater.  The dog also liked it.  I could get my "flamigo legs," as my mom called them, warm.

As a junior higher, fluffy skirts were in style or at least we thought they were.  My mom made me several skirts.  I loved them.  I wore them often even if my legs froze off.  My love for being "stylish" and my love for being warm brought me to standing in front of the space heater.  I'm surprised I haven't come across a picture of me standing in front to of the heater because I was there a lot.

One Sunday morning, I put on my favorite skirt getting ready for church.  While I waited for everyone else to get ready, I stood in front of the space heater.  After a few minutes, I smelled something funny.  My dad says to me, "I think it's your skirt.  You are too close."  I move away to find part of my skirt had melted.  Boy was I upset.  I wore it anyway to church.  You couldn't really tell.  I was more careful after that about standing too close to the heater.

Since then I have found other ways to warm up.  Now I bake something or eat hot soup.  I am trying out a new soup recipe today and will share it later if it turns out well.  But until then  I will share with you a super easy soup recipe.  It has several different names but I call it Hamburger Vegetable Soup.

Hamburger Vegetable Soup
1 lb browned ground beef
1 can corn
1 can green beans
1 can ranch style beans
2 cans Italian style diced tomatoes
2 cups water
1 pkg ranch dressing mix

Combine all ingredients in a large pot.  Do not drain water off the cans.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

To Honor My Grandma, I Use Red Potatoes.

My Grandmother was a bit on the cranky side.  I loved her very much but she was bossy.  She lived with my mom for 11 years, and she liked to tell everyone what to do and how to do it.  She and I went round and round so many times.  She liked to tell me how to cook, and I don't like being told how to cook.  She also liked to tell me my ideas for recipes were terrible.  I often made things she thought were bad ideas.  And even if she liked them after I had made it, she would never say she was wrong.  She would just ask me to make it again.  That was when I knew she liked it.

My grandmother was a good cook, and I think she liked cooking.  I never heard her say one way or another.  But I saw her spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  At Christmas time, she spent lots of time baking all kinds of desserts.  She would bake enough to cover her dining room table with desserts.  I can recall having to move desserts off the table so us kids could play games.  We would sit and eat dessert and play.  She would bake pies, candies, cakes, and cookies.  I am not sure why she thought it necessary to make all those desserts, but it just wasn't Christmas to her without them.  Even after moving to Idaho, she would make or have my mom make desserts at Christmas, and she would be upset if there weren't enough desserts.  There were never enough people to eat all those desserts.

Unlike most kids, my favorite thing my grandma made wasn't any of those desserts.  After moving away for college, any time I came home for a visit I would ask my grandma to make potato salad.  She made the best potato salad.  When I asked her how she made it she would begin by telling me she used red potatoes.  I would get upset right away and miss everything else she said.  Being a good Idahoan, you just don't use red potatoes in potato salad.  We grow russets here and russets are what go in potato salads!  Although, I still would ask her to make me potato salad.

As the years wore on and she became older, she began losing her sight.  One day, I finally gave in and asked her to show me how to make her potato salad even with those darn red potatoes.   To this day, I'm not sure if the red potatoes make a difference or not, but to honor my grandma I use red potatoes.  As she showed me how to make the salad, I realized this recipe was like many of mine - no measurements.  So as I give you the recipe I will do my best at giving measurements.

Grandma's Potato Salad
7 medium red potatoes
10 eggs
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/2 cup coarsely chopped sweet pickles
3 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup sweet pickle juice

Boil potatoes skin on until done but not too soft.  Boil eggs until hard boiled.  While potatoes and eggs are boiling, chop onion and pickles.  After potatoes are done, peel and cut up while still hot.  Pieces of potato should be on the larger size. Mix potatoes, onions, and pickles in a large mixing bowl and put in refrigerator to chill.  Peel and chop 8 of the 10 eggs, place in a separate bowl and chill.  Peel the 2 extra eggs and set aside for use later.  After all ingredients are chilled, mix mayo and pickle juice with a wire whisk.  Mix eggs, and mayo mixture in with the potato mixture in the large mixing bowl.  It should seem like there is too much mayo mixture.  If there is just enough or not enough, mix more mayo mixture and mix in. The potatoes will absorb some of the dressing.  Pour the potato salad into a serving bowl.  Quarter the 2 remaining eggs and use to garnish.  This salad is best made at least the day before serving.