Writing On The Wall

          I was tidying up my desk/office area before I opened up word to start typing and I had to flip the blotter paper on my desk.  I always say “don’t start work in a messy work space”.  I hate a messy blotter.  I used to tell my kids all the time, in fact I would write across the top of the blotter “DO NOT WRITE ON THIS BLOTTER!”  It never worked.  I would forever start my paperwork and look for a note I had written earlier to remind myself about something and see signatures of my kids all over the blotter.  Just their names signed a hundred times over.  They are all grown up now so there are no signatures on the blotter. 

Now I find my notes that I have jotted down for myself amongst my husband’s chicken scratch of part numbers and passwords to new accounts and websites that he wants to look at or has looked at and wants to remember them.  Once in awhile as I’m looking up a word in the dictionary or my thesaurus I’ll find a piece of scrap paper with one of the kids names scribbled across it and it reminds me of them writing on my blotter.  I hope one day they have kids and a blotter on their desk that their kids can mess up like they did to mine so often.  J

          You know, once upon a time, my husband used to have very nice “girly” penmanship.  I used to be so jealous because his homework always looked so much prettier than mine; funny how things change as you go through life.  If you don’t practice things you do well, eventually you won’t do as well at them as you used to.  Writing the old fashion letter is one of my favorite things to do and it is such a lost art these days.  I think my penmanship is nice... "girly" nice.

Writing on the wall is a thing of the past.  Labor Day weekend hints that summer is a thing of the past and it is back to school and pencils and books and teacher’s dirty looks.  Okay, maybe teachers don’t give dirty looks anymore (baa!) and there are no pencils and books because everyone has laptops and tablets and notebooks and probably things I’ve never even heard of.  Writing on the wall has become another sad thing of the past for most, but not for me.  I'll keep my pencil, thank you.

© Crackerberries 2011

Southern Yankee Quesadillas

So my husband says the south thinks that us northerners are rude because we give a yes or no answer and don't elaborate.  My husband and I are from the north, Maine to be specific.  Now we are from the south (home is where your heart is, right?)   I think the south has stereo typed the north and the north has stereo typed the south.  I think I should have been from the south because I have never been good at just "yes" or just "no" ... I always give way more information than is necessary.  Do you see what I'm saying here?  Anyways, here's today's recipe... I call it southern yankee ... as long as it tastes good, does it matter what came first? The chicken or the egg?

6 flour tortillas (I make my own so I can make them thicker than the ones bought at the store.

1½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups chili pepper in adobo sauce

1 lb sirloin tip, sliced into ¼ inch strips

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced

1 medium green pepper, julienned

3 cloves garlic, minced

1½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

½ cup teriyaki sauce

3-4 shakes angostura bitters

Combine teriyaki sauce and angostura bitters and pour over sirloin.  Let stand at room temperature for 30-45 minutes, marinating. 

Preheat large electric fry pan or griddle to 400º.  Cook tortillas 1-1½ minute per side to brown.

Heat oil in large skillet; add garlic first and cook 2-3 minutes then add onion and green pepper and cook 2-3 minutes longer.  Drain off any liquid from sirloin and add meat to skillet; cook 5-8 minutes until there is no pink left.

Place three tortillas on cookie sheets side by side.  Distribute meat mixture onto each tortilla.  Sprinkle with cheese and spoon 1-2 tablespoons of sauce over each.  Top with remaining tortillas.

Place in preheated 400º oven and cook for 8-10 minutes.  Remove and cut into fourths; serve with leftover chili sauce, sour cream, ranch dressing, etc.

© Crackerberries 2011

Sausage & Zucchini Stuffed Pork Loin Roast

1½-2 lb Pork Loin Roast

½ lb bulk sausage

2 cups bread crumbs

1½ cup shredded zucchini

½ cup chopped onion

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350º.

Cook sausage and onion in large skillet until sausage is no longer pink; add zucchini and cook 3-5 minutes longer; do not drain.  Add bread crumbs, garlic powder and thyme and mix well.  Let cool slightly.

To butterfly pork roast place fat side down; starting at the thickest edge, slice horizontally through the meat stopping 1½ inch from the opposite side so that the roast will open like a book.  Pound the open roast with a mallet to flatten to about 1½ inches and remove any fat.

Spread cooled mixture evenly on cut side of roast; roll starting with long end, jelly roll style.  Secure with string.  Rub roast with olive oil and sprinkle with onion powder and Italian seasoning.  Place in lightly greased roasting pan and bake at 350º for 1½ hours.  Cool slightly before slicing.

© Crackerberries 2011

Time for Friendship?

            I like to write my first drafts on paper and then transfer to the computer, but lately I have found I can save more time if I just do the first draft on the computer.  Anything I can do to save time.  I want to save time and I look for time and sometimes I try to buy time but that doesn’t make time and pretty soon I am out of time.  I have come to the conclusion that I need to take my time and do what I have time to do in a timely fashion and stop doing things that are a waste of time (i.e. Facebook). 

I deactivated my Facebook account almost a year ago.  I gave it up mostly because it was causing me to sin.  Mark 9:43 says, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter into life maimed rather than having two hands to go to hell into the fire that shall never be quenched.”  I’m not saying Facebook is sinful to everyone, that’s between them and God. 

At first I thought wow, look at all my friends … look at all the people that are befriending me.  I didn’t know I had so many friends. After awhile I became a nosey little busy body wondering what everyone else was doing.  Snooping was taking up way too much of my time and it was causing me stress.  Once I deactivated the account I waited to see how many of all those friends I had would contact me.  It was a sad shocker to realize I didn’t have as many friends as I thought I had.

True friendships are not found on Facebook.  They are not found at the workplace or at school.  How many people do you call your friend on Facebook, in the workplace or at school can you call at 3AM and get this response: “I’ll be right there”?  A sad truth we find now is churches try to lead people to believe that small group is the answer.  They try to create first century community in a twenty-first century society.  It doesn’t work.  You cannot put people together and expect them to jive.   We were in a small group once.  Actually we were in a couple of small groups.  Take a guess at how many people from those small groups contact us now.  The gloomy fact is if you are not right in someone’s face, being valuable to them, you are not important.

Society has become so self-centered and narcissistic they confuse friendly people with friendship.  The Facebook community gives a false sense of “friendship security” because people tend to applaud each others endeavors, making them feel important.  People in general are lonely.  God made us that way so that we would need each other. Pretty soon the secret will be out: Facebook is not the cure all for loneliness. 

True friendships take time.  One must be disciplined with the time we are given. I read somewhere once that disciplined people have much more time than do undisciplined people.  God has given each one of us a certain amount of time.  One true friendship that has been nourished by time is worth more than a handful of friendly acquaintances.    Ephesians 5:15-16 “See then that you walk cautiously not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

© Crackerberries 2011

Sausage Pasta Bake

1 lb Italian sausage

16 giant pasta shells

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup stewed tomatoes

2 cups pasta sauce

1 cup fresh baby spinach

1 cups ricotta cheese

1 tbsp fresh chopped basil or parsley

¼ cup parmesan cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella

Cook shells according to package instructions; drain, set aside.  Remove sausage from casing, crumble and cook in large skillet until browned; add garlic, onion and spinach and cook 5 minutes.  Add stewed tomatoes and half of the pasta sauce, heat just to warm.

Pour remaining sauce in bottom of lightly greased casserole dish. Combine ricotta, parmesan and basil and mix well.  Stuff shells with cheese mixture and place in casserole; spoon sausage mixture over top. 

Bake at 350º for 30 minutes; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese last five minutes.  Let stand ten minutes before serving.

© Crackerberries 2011

Hot Dogs On The Glass

Many years ago I had this friend, Debbie Tucker, from Maine, who used to make this meal for her family quite often.  She would always tell me about it, and how good and easy it was to put together.  I never made it until the other day and she is right.  It is easy and it is good.  Thank you, Debbie Tucker!

3 cups mashed potatoes

8 hot dogs

4 slices American cheese

½ cup prepared mustard 

Paprika

Salt & pepper

Ketchup

Place hot dogs in a lightly greased glass baking dish; split lengthwise, but do not cut all the way through.  Fill each dog with mustard.  (I also added a layer of “rooster sauce” (Sriracha hot chili sauce). 

Cover with cheese slices (I used extra sharp cheddar cheese) and top with potatoes.  Sprinkle with paprika and salt and pepper; dot with ketchup.  Bake at 425º 15-20 minutes until potatoes are lightly browned.  Serve with side of veggies.

© Crackerberries 2011

Memories From a Cast Iron Fry Pan

          I can’t be sure what woke me first, the puttering of the push mower or the smell of fresh brewed coffee and bacon grease.  I rolled over and looked out the window to see my grandfather cutting the grass.  It would take him all morning to get the grass cut.  There were four different areas of lawn around the house and he did it all with a push mower.  After he finished his chore of the lawn, he would settle himself on the swing and drink beer from a bottle.

          I spent most of my summers growing up at my grand parent’s house.  Every morning was the same… the smell of fresh brewed coffee and bacon grease.  The sounds from the window were always different; sometimes it was birds chirping or a chain saw humming or a dog barking, or the next door neighbor’s kids playing. 

I would pull on the shorts and t-shirt I had worn from the day before and go down stairs.  Grandmother would be at the stove flipping bacon in this great big cast iron fry pan.  She would inform me that I was wearing the same clothes that I had on the day before.  I didn’t know what the big deal was, they weren’t dirty…but I always had to go change into something different.

          By the time I made my way back down the stairs for the second time, my grandfather would be standing at the counter making toast.  He could make the best floppy toast ever.  When you held on to the toast it would flop right over in your hand and it was so good you could eat the crust.  He made stacks upon stacks of toast over the summers that I grew up there. 

          We would sit down at the table and I would reach over for a piece of that floppy toast and my grandmother would grab my hand and say, “Prayers first”.  We would bow our heads and sometimes she would ask me to pray.  “God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for this food, AMEN”.  That was about all I could muster.  Most of the time prayer would come from grandfather and he was a little more in depth with thanksgiving. 

          Grandmother was always in the kitchen.  Sometimes she would place that big cast iron fry pan on the wood stove.  They had that wood stove burning year round; it could be 80º outside and that stove would be smoldering away inside.  I loved when she let me “play” on the stove.  She would give me different ingredients to whip up.  Most times it was a chocolate mess of goo, but I always ate it and whatever I didn’t eat, the dog ate the rest.

          Not grabbing hold of the fry pan handle was a hard lesson learned.  In fact, I believe I learned that lesson three times over.  Every time I did it, Grandmother would butter my hand and remind me that it’s a pan not to be touched once it is placed on the stove.  Occasionally I am reminded of that lesson some 35 years later.

          I grew up and the summers spent at my grandparents came to an end.  Not because they didn’t want me to come but because I had different priorities.  I tried to visit but it just didn’t fit into the things I wanted to do.  Eventually my grandmother died and my grandfather was left to fend for himself.  I continued to try to visit, but again, my priorities were different.  Unfortunately, he became sick and had to be placed in a nursing home.  It was a sad time but it had to happen.  Ultimately he died and the house was put up for auction as well as all of the items in it.  Some of the family took the heirlooms that were important to them, but most items sold in the auction.

          Many years later, I was out with a friend doing some yard sale shopping when I came upon this old weather-beaten pan.  It was rust-covered and probably still sitting there because who would pay $1 for a beat up old pan?  But underneath all that rust and dirt was a cast iron fry pan.  I picked it up and almost dropped it remembering how hot the handle could be.  All those memories of the times I had with my grandmother came flooding back to me.  I could almost smell the bacon sizzling from that pan.  I had to have it.  I brought it home, cleaned up and now it has become a weekend tradition in our family… the smell of fresh brewed coffee and bacon grease from an old cast iron fry pan… how can you beat that?

© Crackerberries 2011

Chicken Sliders

The Chris-Topper

Very easy and very yummy… it was so good I entered it in the BHG contest.  But they didn't find it worthy to be a winner or an honorable mention, so I'll share here. 

2 lbs chicken pieces, skinned              

½ cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp paprika

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp chili powder

½ tsp allspice

½ red onion, chopped

¼ cup water

8 soft garlic buns

Red pepper, sliced

Combine all ingredients except garlic buns and red peppers in lightly greased crock pot.  Cook on low for 6 hours.  Remove chicken from pot and pull meat off bones.  Return meat to crock pot and cook for an additional 30-45 minutes.  Spoon chicken into buns, add sliced red pepper or jalapeno peppers and cover with top buns.

© Crackerberries 2011

Plum Wine

Today we are going on a wine making journey.  Are you ready?  Here we go ….

·         Day #1

1)    Pick plums

2)    Wash feet

3)    Wash plums

4)    Get a big drink of something as you will be busy stomping for awhile

5)    Place plums in large vat (canning pot works well)

6)    Start stomping … at first the seeds hurt your feet, but they toughen up after awhile

7)    Continue stomping until all are mush

8)    Yield: 8 quarts of mashed plums

9)    Get large cooler or other container and clean well

10)         Add 4 gallons fresh cold water

11)         Add 12 lbs sugar; stir to dissolve

12)         Pour in plum mush

13)         Sprinkle with 3-4 tsp. yeast

14)        Cover

·         Day #2 Stir yeast caked plums (looks really gross)

·         Day #3 Stir yeast plums (smells very vinegary and is bubbly)

·         Day #4 Stir yeast plums (smells yeasty, plums are breaking down)

·         Day #5 Stir yeast plums (smells very yeasty, still breaking down, Bear & and tasted it – the dog liked it and I thought it tasted like cider)

·         Day #6 Stir, stir, stir (not so yeasty smelling and plums have broke down a lot)

·         Day #7 Stir, stir, stir

·         Day #8 Drain/strain off liquid and pour into glass jars (wide mouth gallon size work best); cover and let sit in cool dark place, undisturbed for 6 weeks.  Yield: 5¾ gallons

·         Day #9 Heard what sounded like a huge gunshot, a jug broke and plum wine went everywhere (we had contained the jugs in large coolers so the mess was restricted to one cooler) — do not lay jugs on their sides.  Yield: 4¾ gallons

·         Day #10 — 6 weeks later: Loosen caps (be very careful when doing this as it is like opening a bottle of warm tonic water…extremely fizzy) Let stand with covers loosened for 4 days so that fermentation stops.

·         Day #11 Strain, bottle and cap… taste samples while doing so.  Yield: 18 bottles of wine on the wall.

© Crackerberries 2011

Green Bean Chicken Cacciatore

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1½ lb chicken skinned chicken pieces

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 fresh mushrooms, sliced

2 cups chopped stewed tomatoes, drained

½ cup dry red wine

1 Tbsp oregano

1 tsp thyme

6 oz tomato paste

Salt & pepper

1 lb fresh green beans, steamed

Cooked white rice

Salt and pepper all sides of chicken pieces.  Heat olive oil in cast iron fry pan on medium high heat; reduce to medium heat and add chicken to sear.  Cook 4-5 minutes per side until all pieces are golden brown. 

Remove chicken and drain any grease leaving about 1 tbsp in pan.  Add garlic, onions and green peppers and cook for 8-10 minutes then add mushrooms and cook 5 minutes longer.  Add tomatoes, wine, oregano and thyme, blend in well and bring to a boil. 

Return chicken to pan, reduce heat, cover and cook 30 minutes; stirring occasionally. Add tomato paste to thicken and cook uncovered 15 minutes longer.  Depending on how you like your food mixed together, serve over rice and/or with fresh green beans.

                       

© Crackerberries 2011

Swedish Meatballs and Sour Cream Gravy

So the infamous "they" say the way to a mans heart is through his belly.  I stole my husbands heart a long time ago with a valentine placed in his locker.  Last night I served this meal for din-din and stole it all over again.  He l♥ved my recipe for Swedish meatballs.  Now the easy way to do it is to buy the meatballs already made in the frozen food section at your supermarket and add a can or two of cream of mushroom soup with a teaspoon of nutmeg; combine it all together in the crockpot and there you go.  This is a little more time consuming, but well worth the effort.

½ lb ground beef

½ lb bulk sausage

½ cup fresh bread crumbs (1 slice)

¼ cup half & half, warm

1 egg, beaten

½ tbsp onion powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp cardamom

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1¾ cup beef broth

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup flour

3 mushrooms, sliced

Crumble beef and sausage in medium bowl and mix together; sprinkle with spices.  Add beaten egg, bread crumbs and half & half; mix well (mixture will be very moist).  Using small ice cream scoop form 1½ inch meatballs and roll gently.  Heat oil in cast iron skillet and cook meatballs on medium heat, turning often until browned on all sides (about 15 minutes). 

Remove meatballs from pan.  Add mushrooms and 1½ cup beef broth and stir, scrapping pieces from bottom with wooden spoon or spatula; bring to boil.  In measuring cup combine ¾ cup beef broth and flour and mix until smooth and add to pan.  Once mixture begins to bubble, reduce heat; add meatballs and cook 15 minutes.  Stir in sour cream just before serving.  We had ours with salad and mashed potatoes.

© Crackerberries 2011