Crackers

I have to say, these disappeared when I went to the hair dressers today.  I made all four sleeves of crackers and left a tray to sample.  When I got home, they were all gone.  The hair dresser said her mother made a version using the same recipe, but with oyster crackers. Both are workable and tasty.

1  1/2 sticks butter
1 package Ranch dressing mix
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
 3-4 sleeves saltines crackers ( I got all four sleeves into this solution)
Mix these all together except for the crackers.  Dip both cracker sides into this mix and place on a baking sheet that has been covered with foil.  Bake the crackers on the baking sheet at 250  degrees for 15 minutes and then turn them over and sprinkle parmasean cheese over the crackers.  Bake another 15 minutes or until slightly brown. Yum!

Note: I went to the hair dresser today after making the crackers.  I took a bag of them to her and she gave me an idea; she said her mother did nearly the same thing but with oyster crackers.  Isn't that a good idea?

Merry Christmas 2017

Today will be busy.  It's three days before the party and the refrigerators are filling up with items for the event.  Today I can prepare and add three more and mark as ready.  I have a long hair appointment at 3:00 and David and his dog are on the way from Florida and if I know him, and I do, he will drive straight through. This dog rodeo will be harrowing, but we will survive, we have done it before. (There will be four dogs and 22 people at last count.) 

Mike, Beth and Brooks leave tomorrow and Nate is in Hawaii, yet the list grows here at Many Branches.  The leaves, the leaves, good grief, I have never seen so many.  Matt is supposed to come next week, when he can to get rid of some of them; otherwise we will have to put up with them until spring.

For the first meal, around 2:30 on the 23rd I am trying several of Trader Joe's hors d' oeuvres.  I like to try his new things and he has many new and different offering for Christmas.  I'll let you know how they go. There will be a cheese board and cheeseballs, and dried fruit, nuts, and grapes nestled in place. There are four crock pots lined up and ready for duty to hold, seafood chowder, beef and noodles, beef and vegetable soup, and bean and ham soup. (Make that five, Nancy is bringing her special soup.) I am trying a new cranberry salad that I am eager to report about its acceptance to you after the holidays.

Dinner will be a ham and a beef tenderloin, scalloped potatoes, that good corn recipe that I have given to you before, squash/sweet potato dish with the caramels and marshmallows from Ky., three salads, brussel sprouts, trifle and orange cake for dessert...I am sure I am forgetting something; oh, Nancy and Danny are bringing chicken enchilada soup, buckeyes, and the orange cake.  AND, they are coming a day early to help me out.  I am sure I am leaving out something, but there you go.

Merry Christmas to all of you out there.  You never know what is in the future, so enjoy every minute (even if you have four spoiled dogs nipping at your feet every minute of every day for a week.)

And so it begins

Brooks and Nate arrived last night; Nate for 24 hours before heading to Hawaii and parts unknown for three months, and Brooks for a few days before leaving for Singapore for Christmas. I had a big pot of ham and bean soup ready for the growing gang.  This morning, however, the fare is a big frittata. We are starting to gather for a Christmas dinner out tonight as we usually do except this year it is not on Christmas eve.

                                                                               

Brooks came home around 2:30 and I could not sleep, so I got up at 3:00  and started the fratatta.  I took shredded potatoes and made a big potato pancake in the pan where I fried the pepper bacon which I had  set aside. (I added green onions and jalepeneo pepper to the potatoes.)  So the bottom was the crispy pottato concoction, then the fried pepper bacon, then a layer of cheese, then the whipped eggs with herbs, tabasco, a shot of hot sauce and Bob's your uncle. (Cheese on top at the last minute, of course.)  You cannot hurt a fratatta no matter if you try, it's invincible. 

Now I am working on a seafood chowder for Beth's party on Sunday. She and Mike are having some friends over and she is decorating up a storm.

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Moving right along

The guest list for December 23rd is up to 22 as of now.  I am always glad to have a crowd to please on these special occasions.  People  actually start coming in to stay tomorrow and this continues as we draw closer to the 23rd.  So far I have 4 soups tucked away and many dressings for salads, artichoke dip, beef and noodles, and so on.  I have people to feed up to and including the 23rd. so part of these prepared foods will be sampled along the way.

Kroger has such a great ham sale.  It is 97 cents a pound and I fixed one to use in several dishes along the way and Andy has had some for sandwiches;  we find it a very pleasant tasting ham.

I had bought 2 large chuck roasts and slow cooked them yesterday and was able to prepare 3 different dishes from these two chuck roasts: beef stew, beef and vegetable soup, and beef and noodles (Tom's favorite.)

The tables are set and waiting, although I do have to add another table since the list has grown.  No problem, we can seat many people in this house which begs for company.  They built this house 80 years ago (maybe for me since I am 80) and it is perfect for greeting and entertaining the family and friends. In this case, it is all family this time.  Fourteen are coming from Cincinnati and will start home late due to Johnna and JDs late arrival on the 23rd from Florida.  They don't seem to mind and I do like a candlelight atmosphere.  Nice to guzzy up once in a while.

Have a Merry Christmas, I wish you well.

Boo Hoo I need more likes~

I have found this really good cooking site named Recipes and Cooking Guide.  I have been watching it every day for a couple of weeks.  I would like to continue, but I don't like it when she keeps begging for likes and comments, writing that Facebook will stop us seeing her site if we don't like and comment in excess.  I have noticed today that some of her begging has been taken off but this one is still on:**IMPORTANT** "Facebook will hide my future posts from your News feed if you don’t "Like" "Share" or "Comment" on my posts regularly!"  If  Facebook does not take down how to make a bomb, how to radicalize our youth, and perverts' posts and pictures, why would any woman who likes to cook and share recipes have her posts taken down due to lack of likes and comments?  Honestly, it is so needy and incorrect. 

I have made at least five of the dishes she has on there and all have been received favorably. Go see what you think when you have time.  There is a big variety and you are bound to find some tasty things.

Buckeyes are tasty

Here comes the snow.  Not much, but winter has hit Ohio and Nate has left the building.  He's in California by now and I miss him already.

My niece and I were laughing online about the ingredients we used to put in our cookie baking sessions where pounds of sugar, flour and butter and even Crisco and paraffin were used to produce wonderful, tasty cookies.  My question to her was, did we put paraffin in the buckeyes?  (Nancy makes the best buckeyes and is bringing me several dozen on the 23rd.)  They are her entrance into the house, some people use passwords, all she has to say is buckeyes and hand them over and she is in for life. I was checking buckeye recipes yesterday because I thought I was losing my mind and there were no recipes turning up that used 1/4 bar of paraffin with 24 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips to be melted in a double boiler.  So I asked her today and yes, she still puts in the paraffin.  I got back online and guess what popped up?  Recipes using paraffin in buckeyes! I must be getting old.  Now you see it, now you don't.  Here is our old tried and true buckeye recipe and we made thousands believe you me.

1/4 bar paraffin melted with 24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler
1 pound jar of peanut butter (we always used creamy)
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 pound of powdered sugar

While the chocolate is melting mix the rest of the ingredients together.  It will be grainy but make the balls the size of buckeyes.(some people put them in the frig to get cold or even the freezer)  Take toothpicks and dunk each cold ball part way into the melted chocolate leaving just a bit of blonde at the top. Move right along or you will be there all night and the chocolate might start to tighten up although I think that may be why the paraffin is in there, to stabilize the chocolate.

We are from the Buckey State and these balls are popular and delicious.

One thing I got wrong is Trader Joe's popcorn in a big decorative can for $10.  Don't bother getting it, it is not good.  Small bags of tasteless popcorn that are stale.  Can is filled with cardboard presumably to protect the bags of popcorn but it is just to take up space.

Dinner party on the 23rd

This has been a wild couple of months.  Sitting out in the sun for several days straight at the end of November and beginning of December is something I don't recall doing in life.  But, the other shoe has fallen and it is to be cold...no other word for it, so it is time to Christmas party.  The Florida family is coming, some by plane, some by car (with a dog). Nancy, my niece and her husband Danny are coming for an overnight and bringing Buckeyes! So we are having an all day and a candlelight dinner on the 23rd.  Candlelight because it gets dark about 5:00, but we won't be dining until after 7:00.  At first I thought of keeping this sensible, but you know how that goes. Guests will arrive in the afternoon and we will have hors  d' oeuvres and soups and cards and drinks, and what ever else appears.  Part of the Cincinnati family will be here too.  I should think there will be around the same number as we had for Thanksgiving, 18 or so. The house will be full and the bedrooms will be occupied.

Nate leaves tomorrow for his sojourn which begins in California. We won't see him again until its time to go to work in the spring.  Nate the traveling man will spend a month or so in Hawaii and go from there to  places new to him.  That's the life of a bachelor who pays his own way in life and enjoys what it brings.

Have you actually made Buckeyes?  I am getting a bunch for December 23rd from Nancy.  We used to make hundreds of them with her sister, Linda, along with cookies galore.  We would start the day after Thanksgiving (or the week end after Thanksgiving) and we would bake every week end until a week or so before Christmas.  We fed all of our families and friends Christmas cookies.  I thought there was paraffin (wax) in those Buckeyes, but every recipe on the Internet has just a few simple ingredients and no paraffin, so I am glad that step is gone (if it ever existed.)  I could be wrong.

Another wrong is Trader Joe's big cans of popcorn.  It is not very good, there isn't much of it, just a lot of cardboard in a big can for $10. Skip that one.

Shishito peppers

Another trip to Trader Joe's with a load of products that I have never tried.  I was making a stir fry and spotted the bag of shishito peppers from my trip to Joe's and I cut two up and threw them in the wok.  Those two little peppers made all the difference in the world to that dish of stir- fry.
They provide just the perfect kick with a lingering on the tongue that makes one want just a wee bit more on the plate.

I have gone through Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer, checking everything I wanted to buy to try during the week of the 20th. Diners are going to be pleased with this bag of tricks I can tell you that.

This is not food, but I bought two of their warm vanilla body butter.(s)  I can't wait to use this after my evening shower.  I have heard rave reviews.  I have to keep this body going and the skin needs attention.

I bought two amaryllis bulbs in wax.  I probably should have bought these sooner, but I was intriqued when I saw them nestled in wax with no water required. Just place them in the sun, no water, no soil, turn them ever once in awhile to equal out sun time and they are supposed to create a beautiful bloom.  You can cut the bloom and it is supposed to flower again.  Don't take off the wax.  It is strange and intriguing.

Products fly out of that store.  They are already out of puff pastry and truffle butter, but I did get truffle honey mustard to try.  I think it would be good on roasted potatoes. It will be good on any number of dishes.

An Evening Christmas dinner on the 23rd

I have had a lovely idea.  We are having a Christmas candlelight dinner on the 23rd with family from Florida and Cincinnati.  Mike and Beth will be in New Orleans and Nate, the traveler, will be visiting  wonderful places and making lovely memories.

It will be a regular meal unlike Thanksgiving.  It will be bountiful but not painful.  I am thinking a Falter's ham and a lovely Carfagna's beef tenderloin roast.  A potato dish, two salads, 2 vegetables and an English desert, a trifle.

I think the family will come for cards, drinks, and starters in the afternoon, but Johnna and JD will not arrive until dinner which will be around 7:00. Their plane comes in around then, so dinner may be held for them if possible. If not we will keep plates warm for when they do arrive.

I must get busy with the menu.  I'll let you know how things pan out...with pictures.

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Shopping at Trader Joe's and Carfagna's

This is the time of year Trader Joe's goes all out with requests for products they have had before and run out of, and new products for the holiday season. The rainbow of honey is new to me and I always try several new things each time I am in that store.  The kinds of honey are: clover, sunflower, orange blossom, eucalyptus, macadamia, mimosa.

The salts, which I find equally intriguing are: Kalahari Desert salt, Hawaiian Black Lava Salt, Hawaiian Red Salt, Inca Sun Salt, Blue Persian Salt, Himalayan Pink Salt, South African Oak Smoked Salt.  They are beautifully pacakged in tubes, which display well and would be welcomed by a person who likes to cook.  (The honey too.)

                                                                                     





I want to mention Carfagna's has a beef sale going on.  I got some really nice roasts for Christmas Eve.  We are eating in this year,  David, Johnna and JD are coming in from Florida.

pea dip (we have to find another name for this)

I am sitting in the sun, barefoot on November 28th
in Ohio, if you can believe that! 2017

You know how guacamole turns a specious color pretty quickly even with lemon juice and it gets so mushy if not served and eaten pretty fast...but we do it anyway because the initial dip is so luscious? This Thanksgiving I found a pea dip recipe that solves the problem, staying green until it is gone (which is quickly) and I asked Pam to get it ready for the starter section of Thanksgiving.  This too has avocados in it which she chopped and put in at the last moment.  The pea dip (we must find another name for this) flew off the counter and was gobbled down,again before I got to taste it. This is a recipe that you taste and add, taste and add, but it works.  It is not really a recipe but a short list of ingredients that work well together and produce a bright splash of color to the starter offerings.

green pea dip

3 cups frozen peas
2 avocados (chopped and put in at the last moment)
 1/2 of a Jalapeno pepper seeded and finely cut
1 clove garlic finely cut
chopped parsley
shallots or green onions
lemon juice
1/2 cup parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
Blender all together except avocados which go in right before serving.

This is a Martha Stewart picture.  She adds chopped mint to her green pea dip. We did not, but I bet it is a good addition.  See, you can tinker till your hearts content with this one and make it your own.

Another pot of soup that disappeared before everyone got a taste was seafood chowder, tonight with salmon and shrimp...