Thursday, April 15, 2010

LACY COOKIE CRUNCH WITH STRAWBERRIES

LACY COOKIE CRUNCH WITH STRAWBERRIES DESSERT

Make Mousse {No. 1-below} the night before you are going to make the dessert.
{No. 2} Lacy Cookie Shell
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup Minute Oats
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tab. pecans, finely chopped
2 tsp. water
Combine ingredients in a heavy little skillet or pan.
Stir ove low heat till butter is melted. Remove from heat. Drop by tsp. (I use Tab. to make larger shell) at least 3" apart on a heavy cookie sheet that is greased & floured or put parchment paper on cookie sheet and bake on it (my peference). Bake 350 degrees 8 to 10 minutes. Remove when lightly browned. Allow a few minutes on cookie sheet to set up, but not too long. It still needs to be warm or it won't form over dish. Try your spatula to loosed all around the edges. Gently try to remove the whole lacy looking cookie and put very gently over the bottom of a small dessert dish to cool. Put the mousse in the bottom of your cooled lacy shells you've set in a dish.
{No.1}
I'm not crazy about this mousse recipe so if you have a better one use it and send it to me. Make it the night before you are going to make the dessert.
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tab. water
1 Tab. Bailey's Irish Cream or Tequila Rose Irish Creme
Bring to a boil . Remove from heat and add 2 oz. white chocolate & 1 egg. Beat well. Chill till cool (important). Fold in 1 or 2 cups whipped topping. Chill overnight. Keeps well in refrigerator. Spoon equally among the lacy shells. Cover with sliced fresh sweetened strawberries. Drizzle with thinned Marshmallow Creme.

Without the Strawberries, Mousse, & Marshmallow Creme you can just make very fancy cookies with the butter, oatmeal, etc. mixture. After baking them using (1 tsp.) dough put over your rolling pin to cool and form. Delicious cookies.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

FRESH CALIFORNIA STRAWBERRY RECIPES.

Dillon's Grocery had 4 lbs. nice large (no moldy ones on bottom ) Strawberries on sale for $1.49 a lb. I bought them Monday (ad ended on Tues.) and that night had sugared slices on vanilla ice cream. Yum! First thing I always do is pour them out and (now) wash in soapy water & rinse and divide them by ripe, not so ripe, & kinda green (lots of white & not very red). I use the little & really ripe strawberries cutting out any spots and use soon for ice cream. Keeping the others divided I use all the medium or large for around the Pizza Dessert (recipe next) and also Spinach/strawberry salad. The greener ones I keep to make fresh stawberry pie because they will keep longer. That recipe will follow soon.

Tuesday I made a PIZZA DESSERT that is the best I've ever eaten given to me 1975 by a lady named Berniece Knapp who's husband was on the Dairy Co-op Board that met every month in Kansas City, Misssouri with my husband. Us ladies always went along & went shopping.

CRUST: 1 cup flour, 1/4 tsp.salt, 3 Tab. butter, 2 Tab. Lard; Cut shortening into flour & salt and sprinkle 3 Tab. of milk one Tab. at a time stirring with a fork gathering & shaping into a ball.
Roll out on pizza pan and prick several places with a fork to keep it from puffing up when baking. Bake 375 degrees 18 minutes. Cool. While cooling make topping to put over the fruit after it cools & the crust cools.
TOPPING:
1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
3 Tab. & 2 tsp. Cornstarch. Cook and cool for glaze on top of fruit. After everything is COOL.
Beat : 4 ounces cream cheese, 1-1/3 cups whipped topping, 1/4 c. sugar. Spread on cooled crust. Place around the outside edge on the cream cheese mixture medium or large halves of strawberries. Place them big end to small end all around in one row with sliced side up. Next row around inside beside the strawberries, place slices of banana, then a row of drained Mandarin Oranges, if you have room for another row inside the mardarin oranges do another row of bananas. To finish it off in the center I make an X with two sliced strawberries, if only room for 1 stand it up, etc. It's beautiful. Now cover it all with the Orange glaze. Let it all cool in refrigerator before you slice it. Defineately worth the time.

Today with lunch I had: FRESH STRAWBERRY SPINACH SALAD
(1 peck - (grocery bag full) $1.50 at the Farmer's Market Saturday.)
Washing & picking through them when I got home. The torn looking and pieces I cooked.
I am saving the rest in a pastic bag in the refrigerator. I check each day & if dry. sprinkle with
water. I have another spinach recipe I'll put in here later. I should get lots of spinach for my $1.50.
FRESH STRAWBERRY/SPINACH SALAD
Fresh Spinach leaves, pull out the stem
Fresh stawberries, sliced
Purple slices of onion
Roasted slicered almonds (to roast put in cake pan and broil (watch closely) a few minutes .
Dressing: Honey 1 Tab, 1 Tab sugar, 2 Tab Balsamic Vinegar, 1/4 tsp. poppy seeds.

I really look forward to the fresh california strawberries coming to the store this time of year. I will have strawberries this week till they're gone so more recipes coming.

Friday, April 9, 2010

13 Ham Meals for (2 people ) from a 4-1/2 lb. Bone-in-ham & Ramblings

One of the things I look forward to each Easter is "cheap" Ham. I love the flavor & bone of a bone-in-ham. This year the best price I found for a lean bone-in Butt end ham was $1.29 lb. I was lucky enough to be invited to my son & daughter-in-law's home this year & didn't have to cook the big Easter meal. I just played with the great-grandkids. How great is that??? I love ham and get tired of chicken, fish, beef at home & at restaurants all year & the only time you get ham is Easter. Pork is getting a bad rap. My dad had a little bit of everything on our farm I grew up on but he was noted for his Hogs. They always got top price when he took them to market. Maybe some of you don't know that is where pork comes from. So we ate lots of pork and my mother lived to be 96 years old. How bad was ham for her? She didn't smoke either but was exposed to it all her life because of brothers & her husband the hog farmer but he only lived to 68. I think we go overboard on our thinking sometimes. Like paying a fortune for organic foods when a government agency requires documentation but no one actually watching over them to make sure they aren't using synthetic fertilizer along with their "natural" manure, etc. they are supposed to be using. Their isn't enough animal fertilizer to raise all the food we eat in America and we don't want to join other countries & use human waste or we will REALLY have problems. Just an OLD (still alive) woman rambling.

(((((Ham Meals (13 total meals ) for 2 people from a 4-1/2 lb. Bone-In Butt Ham)))))


HAM & NAVY BEAN WITH CORNBREAD (2 meals for 2 people)

Trim the ham off, cutting towards the bone. Don't trim too well. You want some on there to eat when you cook it in your beans. Buy a small bag of small dried Northern (Navy) beans. Put beans in large pot (the beans will double in size when cooked) cover beans & ham bone with water (saving the juices from cooking the ham to make gravy for mashed potatoes later). I put 1 tsp. soda in water & beans & let set in refrigerator over night. (soda help's w/gas we normally get from eating beans). Next day. Cook as the bean bag tells you for time. While they are cooking make your cornbread.

CORNBREAD -
Beat: 1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted

Mix together and add the following, stirring with a fork till all ingredients are mixed well.

1-1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
4-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Pour into a well greased 9 X 9 baking dish & 425 degrees 25 to 30 minutes.

My family put molasses over our beans/ham and butter on our cornbread when we ate it.

My husbands family put maple syrup on their cornbread and covered it with the ham /beans.

We both still eat it our own way.



When I cut the ham off the bone I cut the rest of it up for the other meals & put in plastic bags. Label each & put all in 1 large gallon plastic bag labeled with what is in it (so you know later) when you want to use it. Freeze all till you want a ham meal some day. Remember the price? Frugal, Frugal, Thrifty. My grandmother said, "save your pennies & the $1's will take care of themselves." A little harder now than in her day but it still means the same.
That wise old woman also said, "A woman can throw away with a spoon more than a man can make with a shovel". In those days the shovel was used alot. But it still holds true that waste not want not!!! That is not being "cheap" just "frugile" and we could all use a little frugilness.


HAM SLICES W/CHERRY SAUCE (husband) or ORANGE/LEMON/RAISIN SAUCE (me) (4 meals for 2 people) I was able to get 4 nice slices of ham in each of 3 bags plus the 4 slices (2 per person) we ate the day I baked the ham. Again I grew up putting raisin sauce on our ham slices when we ate it & my husband likes cherry sauce on his.

Cherry Sauce - 1 can Cherry Pie Filling & 1/4 tsp. ground cloves. Heat together & serve.

(watch all year for Wilderness Cherry Pie Filling to go on sale usually when ripe ones are on the trees - they need to get rid of the last years crop but they will be good yet for a Long time

Orange/Lemon/Raisin Sauce = Mix in small pan 1 cup sugar, 2 Tab. cornstarch, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 Tab. flour. Stir in 1-1/4 c. orange juice, 1/4 c. lemon juice, 1/2 cup water. Cook over low heat stirring until it boils. Boil 3 minutes Remove from heat and stir in 1 Tab. butter, 1 tsp. each grated orange & lemon rind. 1/2 cup Raisins. When I buy a lemon or oranges I grate off some of the outside rind and put in small snack bag & keep in freezer till I need some rind in something.


HAM LOAF & CHERRY SAUCE (2 meals for 2 people)

The chunky ham that didn't make nice slices I ground. I was able to get at least 2 lbs. for Ham Loafs & Ham Salad Sandwiches.

1/2 lb. ground cooked smoked ham
1 lb. ground fresh lean pork
2 beaten eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup milk

Mix and lightly pat into 8X8 or 9X9 greased pan.

Combine: 1 tsp. mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Spread over the top of the meat.

Bake 350 degrees at 1 1/2 hour.
Serve with 1 can Cherry Pie filling & 1/4 tsp. ground cloves heated together till warm covering the Ham Loaf with the cherry sauce before serving.


HAM SALAD SANDWICH (1 meal for 2 people)

(1/2) lb. ground ham
2 hard boiled eggs ground or chopped
2 tsp. pickle relish (my homemade is the best) I'll give you that recipe so you can make it this summer when the farmers market has cucumbers reasonable.
1/3 cup Miracle Whip. Mix together & eat in buns or bread slices.

HAM & CHEESE SLICE SANDWICHES (Using one of your pkgs. of ham slices) (1 meal for 2)

HAM & CHEESE OMELET (you minced in small pieces) & w/shredded cheese make a Breakfast egg Omelet (If you don't know how to make. Type me a comment and I will put it on here. (1 meal for 2 people)


UPSIDE DOWN HAM LOAF/PINEAPPLE (2 meals for 2 people)

1 lb. ground ham

1 lb. ground fresh pork

Mix meat with: 2 cups bread crumbs, 2/3 cup milk, 2 eggs, 1/4 tsp. pepper,2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. dry mustard. Press the meat mixture on top of 1 cup crushed pineapple/6 Tab. of brown sugar.

Bake 350 degrees 1 -1/2 hr till done. Let set awhile & cover with a platter & flip everything over so the pineapple is on top to serve.




Above are my favorite left overs but Ham & Scalloped Potatoes, Ham Balls, Ham & Kraut rolls, Ham Croquettes are very good, too. If you want the recipe for any of these just make a comment.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

SUMMER VACATION IN MICHIGAN Page 2

If you have more time head north to Mackinaw City - Historic Mill Creek - very interesting about lumbering there in 1790's. Colonial Michilimackinac - at the base of the 5 mile bridge to Michigan upper Peninsula.
UPPER PENINSULA - Sault St. Marie boat ride of locks US & Canada.
WHITE FISH POINT (north) -Lighthouse & beach (look for Agates (rocks - get a book) on the beach) If you stay at Paradine eat at "Fish House" - fresh fish $6.95, owner catches, fillets & serves great fried or grilled. Looks like a little fast food but it isn't!
TAHQUAMENON - Upper & lower falls State Park Pictured Rock Natl. Lakeshore - near Munising (Take the boat ride). Driving Hi. 2 along North Shore of Lake Michigan going back to the bridge - notice -Pasties (spelled right - no- r) at every place to eat. Try one.
THUMB AREA - Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, Alpena - Presque Isle (nearly an island) Old (1840) & New (1870) Lighthouses (1 mile apart). Notice names of towns like Mesick-Winyah..
TAWAS CITY - Huron National Forest, Tawas Point State Park, Large Springs-Au Sable River
Lumberman's Monument, Sand Lakes, Camel Road, Chef's Table -delicious baked goods (pies, bread, etc.
BAY CITY - Beautiful homes & churches (Hi. 25) The thumb is beautiful farm ground. Drive around the top of thumb Pt. Aux Barques - Port Hope Lighthouse.

You can tell we like to see things and love Natl. & State Parks. We love to eat at new places & in different area's where you find food of a country the people in the area's ancestor's came to America from. Some you'll like and some you might not but what the heck you at least tryed it and can get a burger down the road. I, myself never found anything I didn't enjoy eating. Thanks to my mom & dad that made me eat at least one spoonful of anything my mother sat on the table. Some I thought was awful then, is my favorite now in my second childhood (or adult). Hope you go this summer and this will help you have fun!!!

Monday, April 5, 2010

SUMMER VACATION IN MICHIGAN

As I have told you in a previous blog. We worked at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore one summer 3 days a week as volunteers. I worked at the Dunes Book Store & my husband worked at the main park visitor's center at the town of Empire. We really enjoyed the area. {Don't forget when you get your park map as you enter all Natl. parks, momuments, Lakeshores, etc. stop at the visitors center and mark it with their stamp with the name of the park & date. Years later you can look in your file and know when you went to the..} being near the penisula area where all the cherry trees are. Yum, Yum. We are now hooked on dried cherries & will be till we die. I still send off and get a huge bag each year. We were first introduced to REAL (from the trees) Wisconsin Maple Syrup, also. I still send back and get that too. Anyway, enough about me and on to the things to do in that area. The mileage listed is from the previous town listed.

HONOR - (2 miles W. from Park) American Resort Campground on Deadstream Road. Two miles east of Honor is a Rock Shop where you can buy rocks for your rock collection. You must get one of the famous State "Petosky" Stones (beautiful and only found in a Northern Michigan State Store). They are found nowhere else on earth. If you are lucky you might find one on the ground just walking around.
BEULAH - (7 miles) Cherry Hut Restaurant (BEST cherry pie) & you can stand outside and watch them make the pies before you go in or after you eat. Market Basket next door is a must.
BENZONIA - (8 miles) Gwen Frostic Art Studio local (colorful) artist. Died the year before we worked there but I'm sure her wonderful Studio & Nature Artwork is still there. I hope so.
EMPIRE - (10 miles) south of the park Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park Visitor's Center.
Hike - Empire Bluff Trail (easy 1-1/2 miles round trip).
Drive- Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive (7 miles)
Climb - Sand Dune (5 miles N. of Visitor's center at Empire) ask at the Book Store at the Dune to see the tape of "Legend of the Sleeping Bear" if they don't have it on the screen so you know why the sand pile is there. Take a kleenex. The first thing we got there in the morning we were to turn on the tape for visitor's to see. Some employees about went nuts listening to it all day but I enjoyed it and the visitor's expressions & comments after seeing it. You can also buy the tape or probably DVD now.
GLEN ARBOR - (2 miles from sand dune) Totem Shop - get a, "I climbed Sleeping Bear Sand Dune Button" $1.50.
CHERRY REPUBLIC - several homemade cherry Ice Cream
Boom Chucka cookies.
Cherry Hot Dog or Hamburger
Cherry Republic Store - free - Chocolate covered cherries samples, cherry salsa, dressings,
jellies, etc, etc, etc. A MUST!!!
GLEN HAVEN - (1 mile) Maritime Museum - if there at 4pm stay for the Raggedy Ann & Andy
rescue by Ranger.

LELAND - (15 miles) you can take a short boat trip all day at Manitou Island (awesome).
NORTH POINT LIGHTHOUSE (30 miles N.) tour inside & surrounding buildings.

South of Empire

POINT BETSIE LIGHT HOUSE & BEACH
FRANKFORT - Beautiful Crystal Lake - rich summer cottages
ELBERTA - Peach capital. Mayfair Tavern Friday night fish fry $6.97 (worth the wait)
and if you have't seen Beulah & Benzonia drive around the lake. Same area also
PLATT RIVER POINT - 3 ft. deep has big tubes float trips on slow shallow water that runs to Lake Michigan.
INTERLOCKEN - Highway 31 - half way between Honor & Traverse City is the Famous Interlocken Arts Center -STOP - almost every night a concert. Free if you want to sit under
the trees outside Kresge's Auditorium like alot of locals.
Hofbraus Tavern - Prime Rib Sunday Buffet $9.00 11:00am (to die for)!
TRAVERSE CITY - old airport road off Highway 31/37 around the city.
Sara Lee Point - Outlet Store
Gordon Food Supply - Best Raspberry Vinigerette you've ever eaten.
8th St. - Victorian Homes
Bay Walk - along Grand Traverse Bay.
Meijiers or Prevo grocery - for 4 lbs. dried cherries or Chocolate Covered
cherries for $19.95!
Cherry Festival (July 9 & 10)
North on Highway 37 from Traverse City
OLD MISSION PENINSULA - Beautiful drive through cherry orchards, winery, looking down at East & West Bay of Grand Traverse Bay. Recommend eat at Old Mission
Tavern - Sunday noon are special dinners - lots of cherry dishes. If you eat the Chicken Cherry Salad - $8.50 you will know why I had to stock up on their raspberry vinegarette at Gordon Food Supply.
LIGHTHOUSE - at the end of the Peninsula to walk around & on the beach
North on Highway 31 from Traverse City - along east side of Grand Traverse Bay through towns
of ELK RAPIDS - our 1st fresh Michigan strawberries
CHARLEROIX - (beautiful little tourist harbor) can take a boat trip over to Beaver Island.
HARBOR SPRINGS - "Little Traverse" Oijbway Indian Village
PETOSKY - same as "the" stone. If you have lots of time & not pulling a rig Hi. 119 high above Lake Michigan with oceon view on narrow winding hilly road through GOOD HART to CROSS VILLAGE. Eat at "Legs Inn" famous Polish restaurant for decor as well as food. Ask about the legs decorations.

NOW - AWAY FROM LEELANAU PENINSULA AND TRAVERSE CITY AREA - fast way to Mackinwac Island -Arnold boat ride over very smooth water to Mackinac Island. No cars on the island but carriage ride is great. Good lunch at Fort catered by Grand Hotel (tour if time).
near Mackinwac City - Historic Mill Creek - very interesting about lumbering 1790's.

I better stop and start another page for the rest. We worked there several years ago so don't hold me to it if the prices and places aren't the same. These were all things we enjoyed the summer we were there.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

EASTER BUNNY

That a rabbit became a holiday symb0l can be traced to the origin of the word "Easter". According to the Venerable Bede, the English historian who lived from 672 to 735, the Goddess Eastre was worshiped through her earthly symbol, the Hare. The custom of the Easter hare came to America with the Germans who immigrated to Pennsylvania in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. From Pennsylvania, they gradually spread out to Virginia, North & South Carolina, Tennessee, and New York, taking their customs with them. Most eighteenth-century Americans, however, were of austere religious denominations, such as Quaker, Presbyterian, & Purian. They virtually ignored such a seemingly frivolous symbol as a white rabbit. More than 100 years passed before this Easter tradition began to gain acceptance in America. In fact, it was not until after the Civil War, with it's legacy of death & destruction, that the nation as a whole began a widespread observance of Easter itself, led primarily by Presbyterians. They viewed the story of resurrection as a source of inspiration and renewed hope for the millions of bereaved Americans.