A Catching Up Post

Popping in with a little random slice of life this week and some of last.

Cold weather descended on north Florida very early this year. I am not complaining since I was pretty much over the heat that the last two summers have brought, but wow, it was unusually cold. It can get below freezing here in January and sometimes even February, but those freezing temps are one or two nights and only for the couple of hours just before sunrise. Folks, it was below freezing for about 6 hours the other night. I was charged with making sure the heat lamps were on the lemon tree. Hubby had to go out of town for work this week, so he set this scene up around the lemon tree on Monday.

IT got down to 28 and it was 28 for a couple of hours.

It worked and quite honestly most of the lemons could be picked already. I have already brought in about 8. We weren't really worried about our harvest of the lemons, but the tree itself.

I think it is fine, but a few of my plants in pots may have gotten blistered and will need to be replaced. I really just didn't think it would actually get that cold, but alas it did!

I was on a roll last week with cooking at home. We had been rushing out way too much and I put a stop to it and got busy cooking. I came across a new chicken tortilla soup recipe and doctored it a wee bit. It was extremely good with my additions.
The original recipe can be found here...https://www.recipegirl.com/chicken-tortilla-soup/?utm_campaign=yummly&utm_medium=yummly&utm_source=yummly

I made some changes that I definitely think kicked it up a notch, but the basic idea of this recipe was good.
***I didn't have tomato juice so I used a large can of tomato sauce and a little water to rinse out the can. I also used fire roasted diced tomatoes rather than plain.
***I did use fresh cilantro and basil, but I think from the spice rack would have been just fine.
***Two other changes...I doubled all of the spices (chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder) After getting it going I felt it was a bit too bland for our household. We like spicy, so I did another round of each of these. IT was worth it!
***The final change was a fresh diced jalapeño pepper. It was definitely needed.

The soup was really good. I printed it off and added my changes to the copy.

All that soup making and spice using made me think of a Christmas gift for my son. He loves to cook, so I think I am going to get him a spice rack. I think he will like that idea. It isn't something he is going to go out and get himself.

Let's see, my mind is trying to think Thanksgiving and Christmas at the same time. I plan to go shopping for Thanksgiving next week, so I am trying to get my list of things needed together. We will eat at my sister-in-law's just around the corner this year. The farm is sold and I know all will miss the day there, but it was a huge load off of my mind. IT was WAY too much to handle and care for. It is in the hands of a wonderful family who plan to build a home where the existing home is and their daughter will build on the back side.

I have been looking through old Christmas magazines. I haven't bought any new ones and don't plan to. I don't think there is anything new under the sun. A few years ago I put a basket under the coffee table to store just my old December magazines. I have quite a collection and really enjoy pulling them out each year to get inspired. I think last year I felt I had just the right amount of Christmas decorations out and will do pretty much the same things. Of course, this year I will have new stockings.

One of my absolute favorite Christmas magazines is from December 1990. It is a Colonial Homes magazine. I have held onto it for a long time. There was one home that just alway captured my attention. It still makes me swoon.

Oh and I saw that Kelly at the former blog Talk of the House has brought gingham back into her new lake home. I liked what she was doing to the lake house, but her home was just perfect at Christmas. I am excited she is bringing it back. I miss her blog. Y'all Instagram is just not my thing. I have several things I love to follow, but it is just not the same as a blog.

Let's see...Tucker is just the best. I am noticing that he is happily moving around and exploring which has kept me on my toes, but I must say a jar of straws is a better toy than any purchased item. I find that he is often content with jar lids from a drawer than all the store bought toys in the world. But, we all know that!

We are headed to Auburn for the Georgia game this weekend. It is always my favorite game of the year. I have always thought it is a true fun rival not an insane event like the one at the end of the season. It should be nippy so I will get to use the warm clothes.

I joke that this weather brings out my LLBean clothes. I have a few things that come from there, a flannel shirt, a pull over, and even a jacket. Those can only be worn in really cold weather, because they are much thicker than the usual winter fare for Florida. I pulled them out this year a bit earlier.

The game is during the day, so I am hoping Hubby will build a fire for me outdoors on Saturday evening. I love sitting by an outdoor fire about as much as anything you can do.

I will share some stitching next week when I get back.

Until then - Stay warm and War Eagle!
Sandy

Gus's frisbee that was on the deck had a full circle of ice.

German Chocolate Cake Recipe

I have a recipe worth sharing.
I set out to make a German Chocolate cake for my brother-in-law. I love to bake cakes, but for some reason have never made one. My mother-in-law always baked one for my b-i-l's birthday so that was my fix for the year. I remember Mom even made them when I was really little, but for some reason this is not on our regular holiday family of cakes. Now, I have a son-in-law who considers it a favorite, so it was simply time to find a good recipe and get started.

I shopped my extensive recipe book collection with not much avail. I was actually quite surprised. I did find one which said 1 package of German Chocolate. I kind of chuckled because if any of you bake with Baker's chocolate you KNOW they have changed the packaging. It nearly sent my mother over the edge. Basically, they have cut the packaging in half in some cases as in the German Chocolate and charged the old price.

I headed to the Internet to search one out and I have one to share. It was super good. I knew when I read the directions for the cake that it was an old recipe and not some newfangled one where you just dump everything and hope for the best.

Here is my first ever German Chocolate cake. It doesn't look so good, but it was indeed tasty.

I am sharing the link to both the cake and the frosting. I didn't change anything to bake mine. I would say if you want it to frost the sides you will have to double or at least make more of the frosting. It was plenty adequate for the layers, but wouldn't have covered the sides at all.

The cake was so moist that it was a little difficult to get out of the pans, but now that I know that I can adjust with parchment or just be a little more careful.

The cake recipe can be found here.

The frosting recipe can be found here.

Definitely a keeper for me.

Love baking,
Sandy

Chicken Delight Paprika

I have an extensive collection of cookbooks. Maybe an obsession would be a better choice or words.

Either way, I love them and from time to time browse through one to find something new to cook.

One of my favorites is a hometown cookbook from the Brewton, Alabama Civic League. It has the most wonderful breakfast casserole that I use and get rave reviews each time I use it for a brunch or church function.

One of my favorite things about this cookbook is finding a recipe from someone I remember growing up. That is what happened one night when I was looking for a new way to cook chicken.

I was flipping pages when I came across this...

It was by a mother of one of my classmates. It sounded so easy. I will be honest...I thought it would probably be bland, but needed a fresh idea that evening.

It has turned out to be a winner. Very tender and actually lots of flavor.

If you are looking for a quick and easy prep during the week this is an idea.

I am sharing a couple of pics of cooking and then our plates.

As you can see I used onions instead of mushrooms. I detest mushrooms! Onions work much better for me.

I have cooked it a couple of times. The trick according to Hubby is not to let all the juice cook out before putting it in the oven because he likes a little more stuff to pour over it especially if I serve with rice or potatoes. You can always mix up a bit more butter and wine to pour over it.

OH and very important!!!! I put California Style Garlic Salt on everything, so that was added to mine. If you haven't tried it, you simply must.

This is what it looks like out of the oven.

Hubby's plate on the left and mine on the right. I don't like corn. He doesn't like broccoli.

We even eat two different brands of ketchup. That is a long story.

Opposites attract you know!!

Have a great weekend all,

Sandy

Soup Time

I am sharing a recipe that I have promised for quite awhile. I love making soups, and it is about to be soup time. This one was made in the heat of August for the first time. I have made it several more times since.

I found it on this website...http://damndelicious.net/2014/10/29/sausage-potato-spinach-soup/

I was looking for spinach soups, but more tomato based. However this one caught my eye, so I gave it a whirl. I am writing the directions and ingredients for it below, because I changed it up with the sausage. If you want to see lots of pictures and directions pop over to the link.

Sausage, Potato, and Spinach Soup

1 tbsp olive oil

1 pound Jimmy Dean hot sausage (the above recipe called for Italian soup)

1 tbsp McCormick's California Style garlic salt (if you have never used this is a must have for your kitchen)

1 onion diced

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

5 cups chicken broth

1 pound potatoes diced

3 cups of baby spinach

1/4 cup heavy cream

Brown sausage in olive oil. Crumble sausage as it cooks.

Stir in spices and onions and cook until onions are transparent.

Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Add potatoes and cook until tender.

Stir in spinach until it wilts.

Stir in heavy cream until it is heated through.

It is very tasty and quite easy to do, so it is very easily a night meal. It would be hearty with a salad and bread.

I worked in my garage today. It was the first day I have ventured outside to work. The true awful heat is gone I think?!

I changed out my table to more of an October table.

I added a little more Halloween stuff which is little since I don't have kids or grandkids. I have a couple of Jack-o-lantern votives in the living room. That is the extent of my Halloween stuff.

I have been stitching, but nothing big to show right now. I am rotating each day with something new until something screams at me, "Finish Now!"

Blackberry Crumble Recipe

I am sharing a quick and pretty easy dessert today. Dessert and really more. I came across the recipe for blackberry crumble on one of the blogs in my sidebar.

Heirloomed Collection shared the recipe here.

It looked simple, so I made it a couple of weeks ago. It was tasty, easy, and had oats. Jeff and I both have loved it. He eats his at night with ice cream. I eat my for breakfast warmed up.

I made it twice with blackberries. The other night I had peaches and decided to try it with peaches. Both are great. I would probably give the nod to blackberries.

It will be a good one to keep on hand for next summer when those fruits are in season.

You can go to Heirloomed Collection's  site to see her detailed pictures and recipe.

http://www.heirloomedcollection.com/heirloomedblog/2017/8/27/vf218jhe7wyxy126reiec6pa1lyl36

Without further talk...

Blackberry Crumble

Fruit Layer

4 cups blackberries

4 tablespoons sugar

Mix the fruit and sugar together in a bowl and place in the bottom of a baking dish.

Oatmeal Crumble 

2 cups oats (I used gluten free of course.)

1 cup of cold butter

1 cup of light brown sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

*I made it with a full teaspoon of cinnamon the first two times. The third time I made it I used 1/2 teaspoon and liked a bit better. Just me:)

Use a pastry blender to cut up butter and mix with dry ingredients. After doing this awhile, I then used my hands to get it all mixed well.

Layer this on top of the fruit.

Bake approximately 45 minutes on 350 or until golden brown.

Here are a few pictures of the progress.

This was not four cups of peaches as I was short, but craving the crumble, so I went with it.

I am about to go have a small dish of some right now.

Sandy

June Is for Birthdays

I have both June birthdays behind me. They swept in quickly and were both over before I could blink. For much of my teaching career they were immediately after I left the classroom and in the first decade during post planning. It felt like summer commenced when we celebrated my son's birthday. I thought it would be different when I retired, but it is so ingrained in me that it still feels like summer begins with the morning after his birthday, so I have got red, white, and blue on the brain this morning.

First a few photos from the birthdays. We celebrated Jeff's at a local wing place and then came back to the house for the annual yellow cake with fudge icing. Recipe here.

Uncle Danny had just said something hilarious that cracked Lindsay and Jeff up, so that explains the facial expressions.

Paul Allen's birthday was at home. 

We cooked fish that Tyler and Lindsay caught in the Gulf this weekend.

This is the Snapper we ate.

But, I had to show you Lindsay and her friend on the left. These went back in.

We ate in the dining room and then opened presents in the living room.

I took the opportunity to get a couple of pics of the kids.

Tyler, Lindsay, and Hallie

Paul Allen and Katie

I made a dessert for Paul Allen's birthday. It is a combination of two recipes. 

The picture was an afterthought. They had already torn into it.

It is his request. Aunt Donna makes a Jello thing at Thanksgiving and he loves the pretzel crust.

Mother always made a dessert called "Blueberry Fluff" which came from a recipe in our hometown of Brewton, Alabama which does the Blueberry Festival each Father's Day weekend.

Somehow the request turned into ... Aunt Donna's crust, Grandma's fluff, but with blackberries.


Here is the recipe...

Pretzel Crust

(This is my made up recipe for it.)

About 10 ounces of pretzels...they have changed all the sizes of bags these days.

1/4 cup butter

2 T. sugar

Melt the butter.

Crush the pretzels. I do this by hand, because Paul Allen doesn't like them really crushed.

Add sugar and mix it up all well and coat the pretzels. 

I spray the pan lightly before putting it in the pan and then bake at 350 for 7 minutes.

COOL.

I used a little more in the picture. He likes the pretzels.

The Fluff Part

You take 1 eight ounce cream cheese and mix well with 1 cup of sugar.

Fold in 1 container of Cool Whip. 

Then spread on the cooled crust.

The Blueberry or Any Berry Topping

I have used strawberries too.

2 cups of berries

1 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of water

Cook 15 minutes. Thicken with 1/4 cup of cornstarch.

Cool!

Spread on the cream cheese mixture and refrigerate.

Now for Mama' Original Blueberry Fluff Crust

1 cup of flour 

1/2 cup butter

1 cup chopped pecans

Work the three ingredients tougher and pat into a 9X13 dish and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until light brown. 

Cool.

Well, that is birthdays at our household. I would love to say I had a big hip hopping party, but that was it..Just plain ole family time.

AND if I am just straight up honest... Still praying my son will choose to grow up a little soon. This was 25 and I worry way to much about him. He is not a bad kid, but still so directionless. No manager of time or money.

Funny how I chose the fruit of the Spirit, Joy to work on this year, because if I am straight up HONEST....

I let my worry rob my JOY for about two weeks. Not good! 

Thank goodness I serve a God who gives me some grace.

On a lighter note....

I will be back tomorrow with red, white, and blue hopefully, but at least with a few stitching, sewing, and crafty ideas.

Praying,

Sandy

Fudge Icing

I am sure every southern lady has a version of this recipe in their stash somewhere. My mother and mother-in-law both made this and both were amazing.

It is not for the faint of heart.

Here is my version of this fudgy goodness.

Fudge Icing

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 squares of unsweetened chocolate*

*If you haven't bought unsweetened chocolate lately, it is packaged differently. A square is considered 1 ounce. Read the label carefully to make sure you know what now constitutes a square on many old recipes. They lowered the amount that they put in a box also. There are only 4 ounces in a box now...so that means for 2 squares or 2 ounces you will use half of the box.

Tricky way to charge you the same and give you less....just like those 4 lb bags of sugar now.

Bring these items to a boil, and then boil 1 minutes, stirring constantly.

It never ceases to amaze me that about the time the chocolate squares are melted is when it begins to boil.

Add 1 stick of butter and stir until melted.

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Now, this is where the fun begins.

It takes practice to time the cooling and thickening of the frosting with the cake layers.

Also using a metal frosting spatula or butter knife is a must when icing with this frosting.

Now, to the cake...

I use Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix that you add butter to. There really is no other brand and definitely the one with butter.

Trust me...I have nothing against Betty Crocker or Pillsbury, but for this frosting...you will be very sorry if you don't use the Duncan Hines add butter cake mix.

They just go together like peanut butter and jelly.

The cake mix has also been the victim of package downsizing too. In order to really get a good cake like a 7 layer one, you gotta bite the bullet and do two mixes.

You can use the extra batter for some cupcakes.

I use the old metal WEAREVER pans. They make a great cake.

I use a soup ladle to spoon out the same amount of batter in each pan and make them really thin.

If you go with the 7 layers, you will need to do two batches of frosting as well. Cook them separately as the whole process with cooling works out well.

I have to tell you the first few times I made this frosting I got in a hurry and try to frost too soon and it would run and I would get so frustrated. 

You just have to keep stirring it and it will eventually thicken enough to frost but then you have to beat the clock so that it doesn't harden.

It really isn't hard, just takes a little time to perfect.

Trust me it is good even when it doesn't look perfect. 

A helpful hint is to put pieces of wax paper under the edges of the bottom layer, so that after icing it you can pull them out and have no mess.

Blueberry Fluff

The dessert recipe from this weekend's birthday is called Blueberry Fluff, but any berry can be substituted.

My son likes blackberries, but Hubby has requested strawberries before.

I actually had some really great peaches this weekend, and thought about doing half in peaches and half in blackberries.

The recipe actually calls for a different crust, so I will give you both.

I will start with the original recipe.

1 cup flour (self rising is what I always use)

1/2 butter

1 cup chopped pecans

Work the three ingredients together and pat into a 9X13 dish and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until light brown. Cool.

Then mix...1 - 8 ounce cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar. Mix until smooth. Fold in 1 container of Cool Whip. (I use the mixer for the entire process...just slow the speed for folding in the Cool Whip)/

Spread onto crust.

Then cook...

2 cups of blueberries or any berry

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

Cook 15 minutes. Thicken with 1/4 cup cornstarch. During the 15 minutes the fruit will be bubbly...after 15 minutes add cornstarch and make sure it is mixed in well.

Cool.

Spread on cream cheese mixture and refrigerate.

I usually make this the night before I serve it.

Now, for the pretzel crust. Other than the crust everything else is the same.

1 1/2 cups of crushed pretzels. I just do this with my hand. My son doesn't like them finely ground.
Mix with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup melted butter and pat into 9X13 dish.
Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes.

I will share the fudge icing recipe tomorrow.

Sandy

Ice Cream and Hot Fudge Sauce Recipes

I am sharing my recipe for homemade ice cream. I have been a little leery of sharing recipes...they simply must be really good for me to share. I have a special cookbook with the family's favorites. I should do a lot more sharing of those.

I have made this ice cream for a very long time. I found it many years ago in the cookbook below. I really like it, and it is a big hit in our family.

The cookbook was published in 1984 by the Junior League of Pensacola. I can't remember how I acquired it, although I do like cookbooks, so most likely I just bought it.

It is a good one and a keeper. 

On Memorial Day we made some and prompted me to share.

 ---I know many southern girls have a special recipe for ice cream, so this if for anyone looking for a recipe.

I have a large ice cream freezer, so this fills it up.

I am one of those rare people who doesn't like ice cream unless it is chocolate, so that means chocolate syrup is a must. 

I didn't have any on hand Monday evening, so I turned the page and found a recipe for Hot Fudge Sauce. 

I whipped it up and it was yummy!!!! even with my slight change.

Here it is...same cookbook.

I chose to eliminate the corn syrup since I am trying to refrain from that with my health issue. It was quite tasty even without it, but I am sure it would be really sweet with it.

Enjoy... 

Sandy

This is the picture from the other night. It was the best I had since we were all digging in instead of photographing.