Cabin Fever Friends

Sorry about the gap at the top, for some reason, I can't seem to get rid of it.  In my editing screen, I am at the top, but when it posts.....I've got all this space....I apologize.

Tonight my Cabin Fever quilt buddies are coming....oh what to make....when cooking is increasingly not my thing.  I spent a few minutes combing through a few cook books and entertaining several ideas.  I finally came up with Poppyseed Bread baked in my flower Nordic pan, a Mother's Day gift from one of my girls several years ago.  This recipe is from my friend Betty. She shared it will me many years ago and it has been a family favorite ever since.

Need to start with beating 3 eggs together.

Do you have any of these?  I keep one in my flour tin and another one in my sugar tin, then you can scoop out what you need or using the markings you can measure as well.  Very fun, you may need to get a couple of these, when you are out antiquing.

Here is the batter all mixed up with all the ingredients together, except for the sugar glazing.  You will mix that later.  It is a fairly runny batter.

I don't think I have ever shown you where I keep my mixer.....love, love, love this cupboard. It has these special springs and brackets on the side, so it swings up and locks in place like it is, I do move my rug underneath while I work, because "stuff" happens.  Then when I am done mixing, I pull the latch and it swings right back down into the cabinet.  If you ever re-do your kitchen.  I would get me one of them again in a heartbeat.  Very nice! 

Here is the topping mixture all ready to drizzle over the bread, hot from the oven.

Don't they look yummy right out of the oven.....

I had some batter left over so I filled a mini loaf pan.

If you use one of those Nordic pans, you will need to turn the little flowers out and you might need to trim the bottoms, so that lay flat.  I can't tell how good the kitchen smelled while I was drizzling them with the sugar glaze.

Karan, Helene, Dee & Mary.....love my besties!!!

Well doesn't that look yummy, wished I could have ate one too!  But glad my friends liked them!

Poppy Seed Bread Recipe Card 

If you print this out on card stock, it should be ready for your recipe box.

Cousin's Camp

Writer's Note:  I seem to have highlighted text where I have copied and pasted and moved some things....don't know why that is and I can't seem to get rid of it.  This kind of stuff drives me nuts!!!  Sorry for the look of that, I would it prefer it NOT be there.    SRL

The Silver Fox and I just survived another year of Cousin's Camp with the grateful help of several of our girls.  I would love to be able to do this ourselves, but it really does make a difference to have extra hands and eyes when we have the "Lesh Mob" to patrol......all 14 of them this year (14 of 15).  It is 48 hours over 3 days of CRAZY!!!

One of the biggest parts of Cousin's Camp around here is the camp gear I do for them each year.  It varies some, but usually includes a personalized bag, a name badge, hat, and cup or glass with a LID.

This year I also included machine embroidered t-shirts....I really didn't do that good of job with a theme...the girl's shirts were hot pink and the boys were gray.  Most of the time I am looking for bargains, as I have to have 14 of everything....at least this year....next year will be 15.  Here is the badge I did for them using digital scrapbooking supplies and photoshop.....they turned out well except I should have made the "sunkissed" brush a little smaller...it got lost on the edge of the button.

These buttons are easy to make and because my mother loves such tools (and I am my mother's daughter), as she taught school, Sunday School, and VBS for years.....she had a whole box of supplies and the press to pass on to me....wonderful!!!  You can get your own at badgeaminit    I don't believe it is that costly for the supplies.

I found some crazy star sunglasses and some leather bracelets kits.....which I ended up doing for them because they were too difficult.  I left a couple of them undone....just to let the older three kids give it a whirl.  Gabe our oldest and a puzzle wizard was able to figure it out.  It took me quite a while to do the first one, but after that one, it went much better.  The kids thought they were very cool.

I ended up buying a better canvas bag, so I didn't let them decorate them.  But instead did a nice machine embroidered name on each one...BTW....no stabilizer to do this and I did hoop the bags in my Do It All Hoop and they stitched out beautifully.  I encourage the kids to keep their "special things" and crafts in their bags....so as not to lose them and ask Mommo.... "Where is my ?????  This is a great idea in theory, but practically speaking with 14 of them, they can't seem to be bothered to put their stuff away.  But the orderly Mommo in me keeps on trying.

My meals are very basic and easy....one was grilled hot dogs, individual bags of chips (I get a huge variety of them in a tray at Sam's Club), mini carrots and grapes clusters, with Corn Flake Cookies for dessert.  My mom made these while I was growing up and I have always loved them.  My girls wanted this recipe after Cousin's Camp....they thought they were so good.

 Corn Flake Cookie


1 c. shortening
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 t. soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 c. coconut
2 c. oatmeal
2 c. cornflakes
1/2 c. chopped nuts


opt. 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate bits

Cream shortening and add sugars, then eggs and vanilla.  Then add all the dry ingredients and mix.

Stir in coconut, oatmeal, cornflakes and chocolate chips.

I always add chocolate chips and never add the nuts, because I have kids that don't like nuts.  They never comment on the coconut,  so I don't think they know it is in there.

I always use parchment paper and two cookie sheets when I bake cookies.  Then I never have to wash the pans and I slide the cookies off the pan when they are done baking.

 While one pan in baking, I prepare the next pan.  I also use a small ice cream scoop to spoon out the dough onto the pan, they are all the same size and just flatten them slightly with my hand.

Bake 350 for 11 minutes.

Party Time Chapter III

Chips and Salsa......

It's a staple around here.

I don't make this for every gathering around here, just almost everytime.  :)

My son-in-law's LOVE this stuff.

I've seen them practically drink it.

 I make this version during most of the year when I don't have my own fresh tomatoes.

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained

3 green onions

1 clove garlic

1/2 lime

hand full of cilantro

salt & pepper

food processor

Rough chop the green onions

This if how I peel my garlic......great little gadget....it is a rubber type mat and you wrap it around the clove and roll it back and forth on the counter a couple times and whaala......

rough chop 

Add everything to the bowl of the food processor.....it looks and smells yummy already.

Essential kitchen tool in my book.....I bought this probably 30+ years ago at Donaldson's.....that ought to take you back.  This is one of those tools spend the money and get the best quality and it will last you for years.

 I pulse it 5-6 times maybe till it is evenly chopped and looks like this.  Oh I wish you could smell it.....heavenly.

Isn't this a fun little dish, you can't buy one of these, because I made it several years ago at a ceramic shop.  The place where you paint your piece and then they fire it for you.  I know a family that used to go to a place like that for birthday partys, even for the adults and they would make fun unique pieces to use in their homes, or make tiles for their kitchens.....very fun.

Take the 1/2 of lime and juice it .....then add it to the rest of the ingredients in your bowl.

Add salt and pepper to taste and stir.

I usually make it a couple hours before we eat it, just to let the flavors blend.  But you can eat it right away too.  I serve them with any scoop type chip that you like.

I bet you can't eat just one bite!!!

Party Time Chapter II

I have made a lot of these dinner rolls in the past 6 months.  And the last two weekends were no exception.  

They really do taste even better than they look......yum, yum.

For the last several parties I have thrown, I make these tasty little suckers and have several kinds of sliced meats and cheeses and butter to tuck in.  To make them even better, my guests can heat it up in the micro for about 10 seconds.....just like out of the oven.  I am not suppose to eat these darn things, but face it, these things make me weak and I usually have one just to make sure they are OK for guests.  :0

This pic was from the Silver Fox's graduation party after completing his RN degree.  Can you tell I used to sell Longaberger products and I still enjoy using them?  The large tray with the meat and cheese has a really nice plastic liner and I like to decorate under the liner as the food disappears....it still looks nice.  Also for a "tablecloth"  I had saved a poster that Jeff had done for one of his classes and it was huge, so made a nice backdrop on the table.

It you already have the Better Homes & Garden Cookbook, you don't need to write this down, you already have it.....under Bread....Yeast Rolls...Basic Roll Dough...although I have changed the original slightly because I mix it in the bread machine....my secret weapon.  

Basic Roll Dough

1 pkg. dry yeast
1 1/4 cup milk, scalded
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 butter
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cup flour
egg

In a perfect world, your egg and butter should not be cold, but frankly I never do that.  And you will also need to pay attention to your bread machines preferences and adjust accordingly.

My bread machine requires you put in the yeast in the bottom and then the rest of the dry ingredients, liquid last.

Over the dry ingredients in the bread machine, I add the egg right from the shell  (I don't stir it ahead) and take a knife and cut up the butter into small pieces to add.   I heat up the milk in the microwave using a glass measuring cup.... heat for 1 minute, then stir and then 30 seconds more.  Then pour the hot milk over the top.

I set my machine to mix a sweet dough and a manual setting, so it is just mixing the dough and not going into a baking cycle.....that would not be good.  :(

I do watch it when I first turn it on, to scrap down the sides one time on the bowl and also to see if I need to add more liquid or flour.  I have found I like the dough to look soft, so it pretty much makes into a ball, but not quite in the bottom of the bowl near the paddle.  Then I let it do it's thing, which for my machine takes about an hour.

Then I remove the dough and divide in half and with each half I make 12 rolls, but you can make many different shapes if you choose to.  I place the dough in my hand and roll them into a ball.  I don't even grease my hands....the dough is just beautiful....then place the shaped rolls into a greased pie pans....I like heavy glass or stoneware pie plates.

I cover them with a clean dish cloth and let them rise...probably about an hour..until double.

I bake them at 350 for about 15 minutes until they are golden brown.  Then I take a cut stick of butter and rub the tops of them with butter right out of the oven.

Now obviously they are best right out of the oven to eat, but when doing a party or holiday....I make them ahead and after they are cooled....put them in a ziplock bag and stack them in the freezer.  I thaw them on the counter and you can warm them in the micro or if you are lucky enough to have a warming drawer oven, that would be perfect.

I use this same recipe to make pecan rolls or cinnamon rolls.  After taking the dough out of the bread machine....divide the dough in half.

Throw down some bench flour on your counter and with a rolling pin roll out the dough into a rectangular shape.  Spread the dough with generous amount of softened butter, then sprinkle with cinnamon and white sugar.  I don't measure.....just not skimpy with amounts, can include crushed pecans if you like.  Then starting along one of the long edges roll up the dough along the long side.

Prepare your pans....again I use glass or stoneware pie plates.....grease the pan with butter, then chunk up bits of butter and scatter over the bottom of the pan, sprinkle brown sugar next....maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup.  Again I don't measure, then if you like pecans add pecan half's next.

Divide your roll up dough into approximately 12-1" pieces and arrange in prepared pans....You will repeat this process for both pans or if you are doing this for just your family.  You can make a pan of each, one plain buns and one pan of pecan rolls.  This is what my family did.  I had both of these probably most every Sunday of my life when I was a kid.  My Grandma Thedens made these and pie every Saturday and Sunday AM for Sunday dinner.

Set aside and cover with a cloth and allow to rise until double and bake the same as listed above.

When you remove these from the oven find a plate that is larger around than your pie plate and lay the plate on top of your baked cinnamon rolls and with potholders invert the rolls onto the plate and scrap any remaining caramelized syrup onto your rolls and let cool....if you can stay out of them that long.

My oldest grandson, who will be 16.....I can hardly wrap my brain around that this fall.....  came up to me after one of these shingdigs and said... "Mommo, do you have any of these rolls left over that I could take home and I did have extra.... so sent him home with a dozen of them......don't know if any of the rest of the family ever saw them.....I doubt it.

The grandkids run by the basket of rolls and grab one and don't even butter them sometimes....they eat and run....cause they have so much playing to do here while the cousins are together.  :)

Enjoy!!!

Enjoy!!!!

Party Time Chap. 1

We have had lots of company lately....a couple weeks ago, our daughter and her husband graduated from the University of Northern Iowa on the same day.  They had both done some of their schooling several years ago when they were first married and like a lot of couples, the children starting coming.....4 to be exact....so that put a halt to that plan for a time.   Recently, with help from the GI bill because of our son-in-law's service in Iraq.  They were both able to complete their degrees.  Yippee, skippy!!!!  So the Silver Fox and I wanted to celebrate their accomplishment.

I have a little primitive cupboard sitting on my kitchen counter is filled with mini's and I changed the alphabet blocks to say the kid's names.

When I do a party, I like to do simple, with special, personal touches to the honored guests.

I have a sideboard in my dining room that I had a plate glass top specially cut to fit it.  Just so I could lay flat items under it.....I had Sara give me some of their special remembrances from the past weeks to use.

I took the cover from the graduation program and cut up the pages with the kids names in it, stamped it and included a photo or two and draped their tassels over them.

This is a fun idea if you like to do scrapbooking and have those supplies any way.  Put together a traditional scrapbook page and then to display them for a party.  Go to the craft store and buy frames that fit 12x12 inch pages.  The glass pops off the front and you can hang them on the wall or display them in a pretty stand.  Then when you are done with them, take the pages out and put them in your scrapbook.  Easy peasy!!!!

This is the back cover of the program and a couple more nice pictures from the day.

About 10 days before the party, I scored a free photo book on Shutterfly, so I slammed out one of those and prayed it would come in time and thankfully it was in my mailbox when I had to have it.  They are so fun and always appreciated.

I really had no plans to make a centerpiece for the table, since I had planned on more of an open house type venue.  But I was walking past my "floral tree"........I will explain that another day....another story.  Here I had a bunch of purple & gold flowers.....then I have a pile of baskets ready to fill and give away.  So in a few minutes, I had a simple, fun arrangement, that Sara can have and enjoy and when she gets tired of it....place it outside on her patio.  :)

Sara and Shane enjoying the celebration.

Texas Caviar

One of the recipes I served that day was Texas Caviar....let's just say right now.  Yum! Yum!  My good friend Normajean introduced this to me....and I will tell you right now.  I am not that excited about beans, but they don't taste like beans.  I took one bite of this and became instantly addicted to it.  I can say at the party that those that had never had it......had the same experience and they have been begging and waiting so patiently for me to get this posted.  So here you go and enjoy!!!

Dressing:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon water

1/4 cup salad oil

Pepper to taste

Mix.  Bring to a boil and cool well.  (You can even put it in the refrig to speed it up.) 

1 can black eyed peas

1 can black beans

1 can white shoe peg corn

Rinse and drain the above.

1 small jar pimento, chopped and drained

1 small jar green chilies, chopped and drained

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

Mix all of the above.

Pour dressing over all.

Serve with Fritos Scoops

I love to serve them in nacho trays that you can buy at Sam's Club with a small compartment for the Texas Caviar and a larger compartment for the Fritos.

I think it is better if you make it a day ahead or at least 1/2 day for the flavors to blend.

Mother's Day

We took my parents on a little jaunt to celebrate Mother's Day.  After loading them up in the van on Saturday morning we headed east toward a little spot in the road called Rowley.  I had my laptop powered up and a microphone plugged in ready to have my mom tell about the places she went as a girl,and about her grandparents and parents.  This little rural community of Rowley share the history of both my mom's parents the Schmidt's and the Theden's.  It was fun to hear her tell the memories she had, some of which I knew and some I didn't.

P. C. Thedens Home 2012

We drove by all the houses, building sites that her parents and grandparents lived in the Rowley area.  Also saw several of the Theden's siblings homes too.  There were a lot of Thedens kids about 10 I think without looking it up.  Grandpa P.C. Thedens was a farmer who had come from Illinois.  This home is still in the family.

Robert Schmidt home at the farm 2012

Grandpa Schmidt was a farmer and a carpenter, my mother has just a few memories of coming to the farm, but mostly remembers going to their home in Rowley on Sunday afternoons and spending a week with them during the summer months.  She remembers Grandma Schmidt always cooking or working in the flower beds around the house.

Robert & Emma Schmidt retirement home 2012.

Sometimes they would take Grandpa & Grandma Schmidt and they would go visit the Haine's Cousins on Sunday evenings.  Hazel always made jello with bananas and would make popcorn down in the basement for them.  When Mom was older she would drive Dick, JoAnn and Wayne around the countryside, sometimes Hazel would pack a picnic for them.  She remembered one time they stopped with a picnic at a grove a trees nearby to eat and the next thing they knew someone was shooting a gun and the bullets were flying over their heads.   They ran to get in the car and she thought she had the car in first gear reved up all the way back home to Hazel's.  The neighbor didn't want them in his woods, I guess.  Boy, have times changed.  :0

My mom was born while they lived in the upstairs apartment above the hardware store 2012.

My Grandpa Ed was one of the older Theden's siblings.  He moved to Jesup after marrying my Grandma to start a portable mill grinding business.  He would drive from farm to farm and grind oats, corn, etc. to feed the livestock at each place.  In those days, a farmer did not have their own mill like we would today.

The Ed Thedens home in Jesup 2012.

They lived in this home for several years.....I have always known it as the Tonn house before they bought a lot a couple doors down ......which was the edge of town.

Grandpa Schmidt built the garage......as a house and they lived in the garage for several years before they built the rest of the house.  It had a kitchen and bathroom toward the back side and the kitchen cupboards were still there as we cleaned out the house in the 1980's.  Mom remembered having her own bedroom, but her brother had a pull-out bed to sleep in every night.

This was Grandpa & Grandma T's house to me growing up......  climbing the trees, ran through the grapevines, learned to sew in Grandma's sewing room, played ping pong in the basement, dug around in Grandma's store room, woke up on Friday morning to Grandma vacuuming under my bed because it was Friday and she cleaned house on Friday, learned to make rolls and pies by watching her every Saturday for Sunday dinner.  My Grandpa T. planted all the trees on this property.....he liked to dig and pull weeks.

After they had completed the whole house, Mom really didn't consider it her home as she did not live here very much while going to college and then she got her first teaching job and lived in La Porte City where she met Dad.

We had a great day together and as I told Dad......guess what we are doing for Father's Day!!!  Down in "Czechland".....Dysart, Traer, & Reinbeck

Pulled this book off my shelf the other day and what a treasure it is.  It is full of great prose and stories of Oregon.  I have all of her cookbooks and they are wonderful.  I am sure you can still find them and they would make wonderful gifts for any loved ones who love to read  family stories surrounding the recipes.

Happy Mother's Day to you, Mom.  

I love you dearly and you are truly a treasure to me.

Last Garden Tomatoes and Old Recipes

Hot Spanish Sandwiches 

Well I must say, my tomatoes were not the prettiest this year as you can see and for some reason were kind of slow coming around.....the season seemed to be short. 

I decided to make Spanish Sandwiches, a recipe I haven't made for years and one ALL my girls absolutely hate.  So why am I sharing this with you..... because the Silver Fox and I like them and I can eat them with a few modifications.  I got this recipe from a dear lady already in Glory (who I might add, died and saw the pearly gates of heaven, then came back to earth for a time and told about them)....my dear friend's mother, Juanita.

I have been cooking my bacon in the oven lately....350 for about 20 minutes....turning it part way through cooking.  And on parchment paper too....no washing the pan...even better.

Hot Spanish Sandwiches

10 slices of bread toasted

1/2 lb of bacon cooked

Slices of cheese

Put bacon & cheese between 2 slices of toast.

Pour sauce over the top.

Cook 2 T. onion in some 1 T. of oil

Add 3 cups strained tomatoes

1 green pepper chopped

2 t. of parsley

1/2 c. chopped celery

Simmer 20 min.

Can thicken with a bit of flour in butter.

Pour over your hot toasted sandwiches.

Yum!!!

Chili Sauce

 

Then still more tomatoes on another day when I checked the garden.  They are coming fast and furious now, knowing their time on this earth is short.  :)  I decided to make some chili sauce....another recipe I haven't done in awhile.  Only this time I am going to freeze it, instead of canning it.

BTW, I thought you might like to see the way I hold recipes or any other paper item that I want to stand up and look perky.  I use old flower frogs ......very cute.  The chili recipe on the left I had my daughter Sally write out for me when she was 10 and include the date and year.  You might want to do that if you have younger kids or grand kids around.  They are such dear things to pull out of your recipe box or book.

I picked all of the peppers I had left in the garden and luckily I had bought a bag on onions at the store.

I chop everything in my Cuisinart......I pretty much use the recipe as a general guideline, just so you know.

Chili Sauce

24 large ripe tomatoes

4 white onions

4 green peppers

4 t salt

1/2 t ground cloves

1/2 t all spice

1 T cinnamon

1 c sugar

1 1/2 pints vinegar

Chop everything and cook slowly for 3 hours then can.  Or if you want to freeze it like I did.  I waited for it to cool down and then bagged it in freezer bags.  I put a quart of sauce into a gal. size bag, then got the air out of the bag and laid them on a cookie sheet so they were nice and flat.  And froze them.  Then you can stand them upright in your freezer like a file folder and see what you have and pull out what you need.

I also made a small batch of the sauce the other day and just added the other ingredients to make the chili for us to eat after I let the sauce cook down a bit. 

Every time I make chili with this recipe for those who have never had it.  They pretty much go nuts over the flavor, because it is sweet and the spices make it unique and interesting. 

Enjoy!!!