Halloween "Once Upon A Recipe" with Joy in Haiku

Today seems like the perfect day to share a "Once Upon a Time" Recipe. Why? Well it's Halloween, a beautiful chilly Fall day and I'm thinkin' hum...baked macaroni and cheese.

This is one of those recipes a family acquires but is never sure where it came from because it's been used for years. I started making this when we lived in Burlingame, California (just south of San Francisco) nearly 35 years ago. I have no idea how I got the recipe, I just know a week seldom went by without making it. Now it's the "Mother-In-Law" recipe. You know "The One Your Husband Asks You To Make Because His Mother Made It This Way" Recipe? So without further ado, here it is.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

1 stick of margarine/butter

4 cups macaroni, uncooked

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 cups grated Colby cheese/favorite cheese

5 cups milk

1 package smoky links

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 9" x 13" baking dish melt margarine/butter in the oven. Add macaroni with salt and pepper to the baking dish and coat with margarine. Evenly distribute macaroni mix and top evenly with grated cheese (I sometimes use more that 2 cups). Cover mixture with milk. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and top with smoky links. Return to oven and bake another 15 minutes. Cool about 10 minutes before serving.

I usually serve it with french cut green beans, and the kids always like to put ketchup on it and the "links."

Please join the fun. Share your family recipe and memories surrounding it. Make your comments here and then go to Mr. Linky so we can visit and share your recipe. Who knows your recipe might start a new holiday tradition at someone else's holiday gathering.

~~~~~~~

Tomorrow I'll join Meri for Share the Joy Thursday.   For I believe we need to find it in my life every day no matter the realities in which we live.  God is Good in so many ways even in times of trial.

Joy comes in many forms.

And this day has the potential of
being just as grand as

Halloween!

I must be open to it!

~~~~~~~~~~

On All Hallows Eve

We gather to play and tease

Tomorrow we pray.

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!!!

Cathy

Please visit Rebecca at recuerda mi corazon for Haiku My Heart on Friday. There is always more beautiful words  there to enchant and encourage!!! 

A Weekend of Family and Celebration!

We had glorious weather for the Easter Week gathering of some of the kids and grand kids. We were gathering at 2:00 p.m. for the meal and then just sit around and talk or nap. Anisley wanted know if we were going to eat at 2:00 what was this meal called. "You know the meal between breakfast and lunch is brunch. What do we call what we are doing?" (Sophisticated for seven, and I had no answer. "Lunner?) We we ate a grand meal, chatted, played euchre or, like I said, napped.

The kids ate and Sandy was waiting for the scraps to fall.

When all were finished there were few leftovers.

We played and ate and had a grand time.

Finally, before he fell asleep, Daniel had an opportunity to entertain Ainsley and me. By the way, Ainsley is the director in this production.



So I'm hoping your weekend was as much fun as mine, for tomorrow we start all over again.

~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be to God!!!!!

Countdown to Thanksgiving with Maxine...

Thanksgiving has never been that stressful for me...It's always the same menu. The family expects it. Easy. It's Turkey, Aunt Marjorie's stuffing, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry salad and pumpkin pie! I'm full just thinking about it!

Thanksgiving will come
The family will all be there
And no leftovers!

~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be to God!

Grandma Gretchen's First Annual Recipe Contest

I decided to enter a recipe contest. Yes, I did. I've never done this before. I've posted other recipes that I like but never was so bold as to post mine much less enter a contest with it. But this sounded like fun. So here is my entry.



New England Clam Chowder

5 medium potatoes
1 medium onion
2 cans of minced clams
2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

1 cube butter/margarine

1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
2 cups whipping cream

Peel potatoes and dice into small cubes. Finely chop onion. Place in large pot with clam juice from minced clams. Add just enough water to cover potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add minced clams, salt, pepper, milk and cream. Make roux from melted margarine and flour. Blend hot milk from chowder pot to roux to thin the roux's consistency and then while stirring over medium heat add roux to chowder. Continue to stir chowder until heated through. Do not bring to a boil. This should thicken the chowder to a velvety consistency.

Serve with salad and warm buttered French bread. May be topped with grated cheddar or Colby cheese if desired.

You can find the contest rules by visiting Spices and Stuff. The background for the contest can be found at My Wonderful Life. Think it over and go out on a limb! Who knows you may be the next chef featured on the Food Network!

Have a grand and glorious Autumn Day...I'm making clam chowder for dinner tonight!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

Picture by doe-c-does

Holiday Dessert

Nectarine and Blueberry Crumble

For the filling:
2-1/2 lbs. ripe but firm nectarines, pitted and sliced
1/4 C. light brown sugar
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 C. blueberries

For the topping:
1/4 C. pecans
3/4 C. rolled oats
1/2 C. flour
1/4 C. firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. freshly grated nutmeg
6 T. cold butter
Cream, whipped cream, or vanilla or plain yogurt for serving

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter a 2 to 2 1/2-quart baking dish or gratin. Toss together the ingredients for the filling in a large bowl, then turn fruit into the prepared dish.

Heat the pecans in a small dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan or stirring the nuts, until they begin to smell toasty. Remove from the skillet at once and chop the nuts coarsely.

Mix together the oats, flour, sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl or in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Cut the butter into small pieces and work it into the flour mixture, either by taking up the mixture in handfuls and rubbing it briskly between your fingers and thumbs, or by using the pulse action in the food processor. The topping should have a crumbly consistency. Stir in the pecans.

Spoon the crumble topping over the fruit in an even layer. Bake until browned, about 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 6 generously.

~~~~~
May you all enjoy this delight!

Every Holiday needs a "crumble"~

This one is from Razzle Dazzle Recipes.

Thanks be to God!!!!!

Bad Haiku Friday

Leftover Friday
Turkey, stuffing, sweet taters
Much more Thanksgiving!

All with the family
No day more cherished than this
For all are cherished!

~~^j^~~

Truly, Thanks be to God!

Charity begins at home...

INDY at Sunrise
October, 2008

I am privileged to live in a place that has exquisite beauty. You live in a place wherever that may be with its own exquisite beauty. Why? Because God made it for our pleasure. Still there are those who live where we do who may not see this privilege because they only see the poverty and feel the hunger. They suffer from pain and no way to ease it. We are called to love. This is not a choice for those who claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We are not to spend our lives taking. We are to spend our lives giving. Why? Because he gave His ALL for us.

So please listen to the words of wisdom offered by Archabbot Lambert Reilly, O.S.B. in his book Latin Saying for Spiritual Growth.

Caritas prima sibi
("Charity is first to itself.")
John Wycliffe

~~~

Where does love begin?

The Scriptures offers the answer, simple and profound: "God is love" (1John 4:8).

God is the source of love. God's love surrounds us from our beginnings, offering us an embrace we are free to accept or reject, filling us with a peace we are free to keep for ourselves and to share.

And what then? God loves us, so whom must we love?

It's not enough to love in general or to profess love for people we never meet. We're called to love people, as they are unique and specific brothers and sisters.

The only place to begin, then is with those around us, as the common translation of this saying instructs: "Charity begins at home."

As with every other virtue, love takes practice. We learn how to love by taking small steps of kindness and sacrifice right where we are, with those closest to us. At home we develop this habit of love, so when we walk out the door into the business of our daily live, we bring God's love wherever we are and to whomever we chance to meet that day.

~~~~~~~

Why this call to love, yet again. It should be a constant call for us privileged enough to have the capacity to GIVE. Today I have heard that food pantries everywhere are having a difficult time feed the poor. It will only get worse before it gets better. We love our family enough to feed them in many ways. We feed with hugs, attention, and love that feeds the spirit and soul. But food for the body may be a commodity which we take for granted and because we have never really been hungry. I would, therefore, challenge anyone reading this to contribute to the local food pantry in your area. You need not take food to the pantry. Perhaps your church has a food drive or place to leave food donations. Even better!!! Send a check directly to the local food pantry so they can shop for their needs and supply what is most needed. Call the local St. Vincent de Paul. You know best!!

Right now my stomach is comfortably full. But out there are children and the elderly who are not as fortunate. Many homeless only have an occasional meal at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Please pray for them, yes, but also contribute to THEIR welfare in a concrete way. GIVE the love that begins at home to those in great need. Give as He gave...until it hurt!

~~~+~~~
For you all I say,
"Thanks be to God."

God's Pharmacy

Picture by mightymightymatse

"Be still and know that I am God"
Psalm 45:10

This was sent to me by a friend and now I share it with you! It certainly puts a new light on my ideas about the worth of fruits and vegetables. Now, they are not just vitamins and minerals...

A sliced carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and yes, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all the research today show grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut look like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles and folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more that three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and, yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, bok choy, rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avacadoes, eggplant, and pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female--they look just like these organs. Today's research show that when a woman eats one avacado a week it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avacado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are 14,000 photolitic chemical constituents of nutritionin each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and name about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increse the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the gylcemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Oranges, grapefurits and other Citurs furits look just like the breast and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onlions look like the body's cells. Todays research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

So there you have it. Eat hearty and now enjoy those fruits and veggies knowing how healthy they really can make you! God has been so good to us!

~~~^j^~~~

Thanks be to God!

"Back Home Again in Indiana..."

What a trip!! We had adventure, magnificent weather, and family fun! Montana is a great place to visit! It started off a little bumpy in INDY as we were delayed for over an hour because of severe thunder storms. So, we missed our first flight to Billings. When we landed in Minneapolis Northwest Airways already had us booked on the next flight and we were up-graded to 1st class...Have never flown 1st class and probably never will again, but it was GRAND!


There is so much to tell you and so little time (I'm doing the laundry as we speak), so I thought I would share one of the unique sandwich places to which my brother, Phil, took us. Actually, he and Ron ate at the same place in Bozman the day before...Ron just had to have another sub so they took Mom and me the next day.

It is from the Pickle Barrel...

This is just 1/2 of the Cougar Sandwich and Mom and I only ate 1/3 of it...
Whew!!! But is was good!!
~~~~^^~~~

To which we all said after lunch,
"Thanks be to God!"

This is REALLY good!!!

A Crust Creations Meal by Pillsbury.

Taco Fiesta Pie

Prep 20 minutes
Ready in 30 minutes

1 (15 0z) pkg Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust

Filling
1 lb. ground beef (ground turkey or ground chicken works, too)
1 (15 oz) can spicy chili beans undrained
1/2 cup salsa
1 small can chopped green chilies (I added)
6 oz (1 1/2 cups) shredded Cheddar cheese ( or cheese of your choice, I like shredded Colby)
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/2 cup chopped tomato

Optional: green onion slices, sour cream,
ripe olives, chopped jalapeños.

1. Unfold pie crust; place in 9-inch pie pan. Prick bottom and sides wit fork;flute edge. Cut 13 (1-inch) triangle pieces from remaining crust; place around crust edge. Bake at 425 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until light golden-brown.

2. In large skillet, brown ground beef; drain. Add chili beans, salsa and 1 cup cheese; mix will. Cook over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until cheese is melted.

3. Spoon meat mixture into baked shell. Top with remaining ingredients

16 servings

!!!!!~~!!!!!

It was really easy to make!
Thanks be to God!