It's the Same, but It's Not the Same

It's the same, but it's not the same.

I haven't planted a garden in years and years, but the last couple of years I have been planting a few seeds in a waist-high container....I don't have to stoop.  I do NOT consider myself a gardener so don't ever expect any prize winning vegetables from me.  

BUT, this morning I was able to gather a few lettuce leaves for a salad tonight.  I washed and rinsed a couple of times, dunking my hands in the cool water and swirling the leaves around and I had pleasant memories of doing that during my childhood. 

Mom would gather great big bunches of lettuce to make wilted lettuce from the grease she had collected.  (We had to have a lot of lettuce for the seven of us because when lettuce wilts, it does just that....shrinks into nothing.)  I can tell you that there was nothing better tasting as that salad.  I absolutely love it.  It was our job to rinse the lettuce and rinse we did.  We had to dunk and whirl those lettuce leaves over and over and over again, changing water several times to get the sand off.

As I was rinsing the lettuce this morning, it was the same, BUT it was NOT the same.  I walked into a cool kitchen, almost cold.  Back on Route One, Box 208, Prague, OK, it was HOT.  Hot when we picked it, hot in the kitchen, but that COOL water was everything.  It made the unpleasant task of picking it turn into a great expectation of the delicious wilted lettuce salad that mom was going to make.  I have never been able to make it as good as mom nor have I tasted anybody's else's that was THAT good.

It's the same, but it's not the same.

I love you.

I Give You Basil Pesto

I GIVE YOU BASIL PESTO

It's BASIL time!

Look at that beauty with its shiny green leaves.

It needs a trim; its second one this year.

And what do you do with the trimmings?

You make Basil Pesto, of course.

On a beautiful raining Saturday night, what's better

than making a batch or two of this glorious sauce?

It takes just a little bit of time, 

a little basil, garlic, roasted nuts, olive oil,

Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper

to bring it all together.

Viola--I give you Basil Pesto,

the final product, and certainly it does

deserve this larger photo.  It worked hard for its

time in the freezer.  Those four packages are now safely

tucked away, freezing as I type, for future family

gatherings or maybe for just the hubby and me.

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe a few years back

and it is and will remain one of my top 5 recipes.

I haven't been very faithful to my blog in a few years.  I used to enjoy it so much, but haven't found much to write about in a while.  I am not sure I know why I stopped writing because I still find it immensely satisfying.  So..... I am going to write again.  It may take me a while until I get my groove back.  Until then, I give you Basil Pesto. 

Enjoy your Saturday night.  I love you.

Have you ever tried mixing tiny ribbons of basil and minced garlic in softened butter?  ..........a great steak topping. 



Perhaps It is All of These Things

 Do you have a favorite book or magazine that you use every year?  This is mine.  1967 Farm Journal Christmas Book. Despite the fact that the cover and back page have pulled away from the book, it remains intact and readable.  Take a look at what made me happy in 1967 and every year since.

This is my favorite recipe for anything cranberry, but nothing beats the basic relish recipe which I make each year.  I made 8 pints this week; ready for Thanksgiving and beyond.  Since it freezes, thaws, and refreezes well, a jar is almost always in my freezer.  A scoop of this delicious ice cold relish is always next to the turkey on my plate....and it is so pretty and red.  Make it, you will be amazed.  (You will need a grinder, but I bet you could use a food processor--not yet invented in 1967.)

That Yule Log Cake!  Need I say more.  I served this at my Christmas get-together way back in about 1978.  The room was warm even in December, but the cake was ice cold and refreshing.

 

I will admit I have never made the salad pictured here, but these type salads were the rage back in those days.  Thought I'd just throw this in for this look back.

This vegetable Christmas tree--I've made it many times over the years.  It is a pain to make, but it is quite cute.  If I make it again, I can see ways it could be improved. 

If you enlarge the photo, you will see the three dip recipes I made to have at the party when I served the cold cake. 

DIY was even popular in the 1960s.  Paper mache--remember?  1967 might have been the year my mom made a decorative item for my grandmother and herself.  I will try to describe it.  It was a pretty shaped larger vase, topped by a plate, another smaller vase, another smaller plate, and an even smaller vase--all covered by paper mache and painted.  It stood tall and majestic on the floor next to our front door.  It looked very expensive to me....back in the day.  The effect was quite nice.  Grapes and greenery adorned it.  I am still amazed at what a wonderfully talented woman my mom was.  I wonder whatever happened to it.  Probably threw it out.  Shame. 

And the candy...........safe to say I have made several of the recipes on these pages.  The Apricot Nugget was a pleasant change to all the chocolate.

I have bought many Christmas books much more elaborate than this thin little book, but none has brought me more smiles of satisfaction than this one.  Perhaps it is because the recipes were simple, perhaps it is because the pages remind me of certain parties, perhaps it is because I remember the day it arrived in the mail and my mother and me poring over it, perhaps it is all of these things.

I love you. 



Too Much Food

San Marcos Mexican Food

August 21, 2015

Doesn’t that look like an over-abundance of food?  This is a typical Mexican meal in Oklahoma.  TOO MUCH FOOD!  But it was good……….but TOO MUCH FOOD.  My family, especially the women, loves Mexican food so we are always searching for the perfect one.  We all have our favorite places, but the corn tortillas and salsa will make or break it for us.  Tonight the hubby and I tried San Marcos on Meridian.  It has a lot to offer; the salsa was delicious and the corn tortillas were good, not El Chico’s perfection, but good.  Downside--the quantity of the food was HUGE, OVERWHELMING.  Such a waste of food.  We’d been happy with 1/3 the serving.  

Earlier in the week, we took our grandsons to another Mexican food restaurant, the place they wanted to eat on their last day of summer vacation.  Logan looked down the table and said “Look at all that food.  That is too much food.”  Out of the mouths of babes.  Too much food when so many have so little. 

Too much food – ponder that…………….. 

I love you.

Roasted Vegetables, Rhonda’s Way

Last time I wrote, I was setting on the front porch enjoying the Saturday afternoon.  I actually was able to make myself get up and mopped the kitchen floor by hand.  By hand I tell ya.  That front porch was still calling my name.  How often do you get days in Oklahoma like that.  I actually fell asleep on the swing and it was WONDERFUL.  The best sleep I have had in a long, long time.  When I woke up I was craving vegetables.  You don’t often hear a person say that, do you?

So I made roasted vegetables, one of my favorite side dishes.   A couple of years ago my youngest sister made this for me and I was hooked.  While I could make this for my entire meal, the hubby seems to think we ought to have a meat. 

My recipe is probably similar to my sister’s, but not as good as hers.  (Doesn’t everything taste better if someone else makes it for you?)  This recipe is easy peasy.  Just chop your vegetables to bite size pieces and toss with olive oil to coat.  Add the savory spices of your choice and toss again.  Pour onto your pan or baking sheet and roast or bake.  I roasted mine using my convection oven, but a conventional oven works well, too.  My convection oven was set at 375 degrees and was done to my desired tenderness, crunchy tender,  in about 25 minutes.  I tossed the vegetables a couple of times during the cooking process to make sure the veggies weren’t burning.

Vegetables can be your choice.  I happened to have broccoli, onions, carrots, and yellow squash on hand so that is what I used for this meal.

Fresh brussel sprouts are fantastic fixed this way.  I halve mine.

That’s all that’s going on around here.

I love you. 

Shrimp Cocktail Quest

Ever since leaving my sister's house in Mississippi, I have been craving shrimp.  Let me set this blog post stage up for you.  You see, at Georgia Blues in Brookhaven, MS, my sister treated me to one of the best meals of my entire life.......all 60 some odd years.  It was Cheesy Shrimp and Grits and I kid you not, I swooned.  Well, I made a contented sound.  I put that first cheesy bite in my mouth and knew I had TRUE southern comfort food....the one you always hear about.


Well, that experience just left my taste buds wanting more--specifically shrimp.  So the other night at a local Midwest City restaurant I tried a shrimp cocktail before my shrimp scampi meal.  See - I told you I was craving shrimp.  I got something that could resemble a shrimp cocktail if you looked really hard.  It was shrimp.  Six of them.  It had a dab of cocktail sauce, and it was in a teeny-weeny aperitif glass, almost miniature looking.  The restaurant was an old restaurant built in the 1980s so I thought I would get a "Shrimp Cocktail".  Now I will grant you, I haven't had a shrimp cocktail since probably 1975, but I was sorely disappointed.  Honey, back then you could get A SHRIMP COCKTAIL. 


Back before Alexis Carrington was fighting Crystal, you could get a SHRIMP COCKTAIL of magnitude.  It was a very elegant and special treat.  They came in a huge, usually stemmed, glass or specifically designed dish.  The shrimp, usually six, would be artfully arranged around the edge and the glass would be garnished with a frilly curled celery stick and a wedge of lemon.  Shredded lettuce would be placed in the bottom with a large serving of cold, cold cocktail sauce over the lettuce.  The more elegant restaurants had dishes that held crushed ice and the cocktail sauce was in a bowl inside the crushed ice, again with the shrimp artfully arranged around the edge.  When the waiter brought one out, it was a thing of beauty, a huge frosted stemmed cocktail glass on plate lined with a napkin.  It left other diners jealous that they hadn't ordered one.


So I guess technically I did have a shrimp cocktail the other night.  I guess maybe we have gotten so used to having these specialty treats that people of a younger generation see them as nothing other than something they add to the menu to appease the older generation.  The elegance of a shrimp cocktail is gone, at least at that one restaurant.


So I am still on a quest for shrimp; specifically a good old 1970s shrimp cocktail.  That experience left me wanting.....still on my shrimp cocktail quest.


I love you.


I tried making my own cocktail the other night, but the shrimp I picked up at Sam's Club just wasn't very good.  The flavor was lacking.........still craving shrimp.


 

Chuck’s Chocolate Ice Cream

I made the following ice cream many, many moons ago and my brother-in-law loved it and he has mentioned it at least once a year ever since.  My hubby and I didn’t care much for it, but as a surprise for Chuck, I made it this morning and will take it to him tomorrow.  Sssh!  It’s a surprise!  I wonder if he will like it as much tomorrow as he did years ago.    

I’m channeling the PW and posting pictures and instructions below just in case Chuck wants to make this himself.  Pretty simple.

3 ingredients:

1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

2/3 cup Hershey’s Syrup

2  cups Heavy Whipping Cream (Whipped)

Whip the cream till stiff peaks form.  Don’t over beat, Chuck, or you will have butter.  Remember that discussion?  Set aside.

In another bowl, pour in the chocolate syrup and the sweetened condensed milk.

Stir until well blended and looks like this.  Almost caramel colored.

Now add the whipped cream.

Fold the cream into the chocolate mixture.  This is a slow process where you cut through the cream with your spatula and gently lift the chocolate to the top.  You do NOT want to rush this process or your whipped cream will loose its airiness.   (Don’t worry, this is the hardest part of the recipe.)

Keep folding and you think this might be done, but it is not!

See, I told you.  Look at that ribbon of chocolate.  Keep folding until it looks like

THIS!!!  VIOLA!!!

I guess you noticed, I poured the folded mixture into a foil-lined loaf pan and will freeze for at least 6 hours. 

And here is the recipe cut from a magazine many, many moons ago.

I think I will rename it Chuck’s Chocolate Ice Cream.

See, Chuck, even YOU can do this!

 

Happy Fourth of July, Everyone

 

I love you.

Just Plain Toast

I have been under the weather lately, but I feel so much better that I want to blog again.  I seem to thinking of food a lot so maybe I will blog about food this month.  Let's see, we could talk about corn, pizza, cheesecake, candy apples, ribs, coleslaw, fish tacos, or my all-time favorite - tomatoes.  So that I don't overdose so early in the month on the GOOD food, I am going to start real slow and talk about toast.  Who else but me would write a blog about toast??


For the last several days, I have been having toast for breakfast.  Toasted croissants, that is.  Split open and toasted in the toaster oven.  Buttered after toasting of course, because we all know that there isn't enough butter in these things already.  Yesterday, I decided to mix it up and add a slice of toasted white bread to my toasted croissant order.  I used a regular pop-up toaster and buttered it when it was golden brown.  You know what I discovered?  I like white bread probably a little more than I like the croissants.  French bakers everywhere are gasping right now, I am sure.


I think it all stems from childhood when I would stay with my Grandma Thompson and she'd fix toast in a pop-up toaster.  We didn't have a toaster so having that kind of toast was always a special treat.  My mom buttered the bread first and then put it under the broiler till the butter melted.  I am not going to tell you that it wasn't good.  It was and with all that melted butter (margarine) how could it not be?  But when I went to my grandma's house, that golden, crispy, white bread was the best toast ever, a special treat.  To this day, if I am sick all I want to eat is a piece of toast made in the pop-up toaster, just ask my hubby.


My mom had a toast every morning for her breakfast.  That's it.  Just one toast.  Mom had very little time to herself, but there was an or so after daddy left for work and before she got us up for school.  Her little special time of the day.  She'd butter her white bread and put it under the broiler.  I like to imagine that hot soft, buttery bread was a special treat for her to have during her most likely only "me" time. 


Kids, remember mom's stove and the broiler under the oven.  It was covered with foil for easier cleaning.  Mom would put 6 or 8 slices of bread in to toast while she'd fry the eggs and it'd be one of our jobs to watch it to make sure it didn't burn. 


Just plain toast, please.


I love you.