May Days and Freezer meals

I'm a learn by doing kind of person. I like reading blogs and attempted creating my own a few years ago. At my age, a few years ago seems like last year. I was shocked to realize the last post I made was in 2011.  What I do well, I continue to do. What I don't do so well, seems to fall to the way side. So here goes another endeavor at blogging.

Recently, my daughter and I were discussing teaming our efforts at making freezer meals. She's a great cook/baker.  I'd like to say she inherited it from me, but truth be known, she has far surpassed whatever she learned growing up.

We are in the stage of making a list of needed groceries, etc. for the day of beginnings, which is supposed to be Thursday, Lord willing.  I have to correct that statement.  She's already been to the store and bought her ingredients. I keep a fairly well stocked pantry and freezer, but still need to recheck for some items I may have missed.

I'm going to enjoy trying some of her freezer meal recipes.  So far, we've come up with marinated chicken breast or tenders, useful for various recipes or just grilled.  Add to that frozen meatballs, homemade pasta sauces, enchiladas, several Italian pasta recipes that I can't remember the names of, and roasting chicken to be used for a variety of recipes. 

Last year I found a recipe on my Facebook page and cannot remember who posted it or I would otherwise give GREAT credit to for the recipe. I love the simplicity of this desert and having a recipe that includes fruit of my choice. This desert actually improves with time in the refrigerator. That's a plus for us. At our age, deserts usually sit in the fridge after we've had it twice and then it goes into the garbage.

Here's the recipe:

  DANISH HEIRLOOM LAYER CAKE

Ingredients:
 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
 1/2 cup sour cream
 1 cup of sugar
 pinch salt
 1 egg
 1/2 tsp. baking soda
 1 tsp. baking powder
 1 + 1/2 cups flour
 1 tsp. vanilla

 1 pint whipping cream - whipped and sweetened with 4Tbsp. powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon corn starch,  when thickened add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
 1 - 2 pounds sliced slightly sweetened strawberries - or fruit of choice

Directions:
 In a medium bowl, mix together with a whisk or wooden spoon, yogurt, sugar, sour cream, egg, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Add flour and vanilla.
 Grease or spray 3 - 9" layer pans and divide batter evenly between pans. (the batter will seem skimpy....but spread as evenly as you can with a spatula in each pan - layers will rise on baking).

 Bake at 350 oven (325 if using Convection oven 325 oven) Bake for only 10 - 12 minutes....till Very Light Brown. Cool on racks...and remove from pans with a plastic spatula onto racks to finish cooling as soon as you can handle the cakes.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT over bake!! If not using immediately - put wax paper between layers, cover with plastic and refrigerate or freeze till ready to assemble cake.

 Layer cake layers: 1/3 sweetened whipped cream and 1/2 sweetened sliced strawberries, or fruit of choice - then 1/3 sweetened whipped cream and 1/2 berries.
Last layer - just sweetened whipped cream. Decorate with berries.
 This cake tastes even better the next day and the day after that....if there is any left!! The Trick is Not to Over bake the layers...or it will be dry and not nice and moist.
 This will soon become Your Favorite Family Cake too!!

A NEW BEGINNING

We moved to South Carolina in August. So much has happened since then. This is the first post I've made since the move and have a lot I want to write about. My days are usually interrupted and that unexpectedly, so my new style of blogging may be one paragraph at a time. It's kind of like my knitting. I start a project, stick to it and eventually it's finished. Most of the time, I start a project with no finish date in mind...just hope to finish it while I can still remember how to finish it.

January is a month commonly used to make resolutions.
When I was young, I tried that. It may work for some, but for me, it was an exercise in futility. This year will be the first time I've made a resolution to myself in probably 30 years or more.

I have resolved myself to write my passwords in a notebook. Yes, I have written them down previously but thought I could remember and didn't write them down. My old lap top crashed last month, along with
information that would have made accessing my blog easier when I forgot the password. If you don't have the email address and the password exactly as it is, you will not be accessing your blog anytime soon.
Trying to retrieve my password and correct email address was a test of patience. Sometimes I have little, and sometimes I have not. At least I had made my identity question easy to remember and I was able to once again get on my blog. I think I'll share that info with my daughter. I know she will write it down and remember where it is. At least if she doesn't remember now, she'll remember after their baby is born. I understand pregnant women also have memory disfunction. I'm well past the child bearing years but enjoy knowing I share a common occurance of younger women. (Yes, I'm laughing as I write.)

Potato Rolls (extremely good!!)

I found a new recipe for rolls and I think it is one of the best roll recipes I've ever tried. I used my bread machine to make the dough which took about an hour and a half. I roll the dough into balls placed on a greased cookie sheet and baked them a bit under 375o for about 10 to 12 minutes or till lightly browned.

Place the ingredients in bread machine in this order:

1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup softened margerine or butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup leftover mashed potatoes (includes whatever you added when you made them such as butter,salt, and milk)
2 Tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups flour or bread flour
3 teaspoons of yeast

After the bread machine is on for a few minutes you may need to add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water to the dough if it appears dryer than you like. Let it rise, (takes about 1 1/2 hours) Punch down the dought and form into about 20 rolls. I formed them into balls and they were a bit like a fluffy biscuit, but you could put them in muffin tins to keep a more roll like shape. Brush tops sparingly with oil or butter, cover with light weight cloth and let rise until doubled. Bake about 10 or more minutes at 375 or until lightly browned. I freeze the leftover rolls and reheat briefly in a microwave oven.

Garden progress

These are new pics of our backyard garden. Everything is green and our tomatoes and squash are productive. This is my second try at growing yellow squash. The type we planted this year is a bush type and not vine growing. It's planted on a hill of dirt. The raised bed has solved the snail problem we
had last year and we have planted early enought to avoid humidity and rain that tended to cause powdery mildew. We are using drip watering with hoses bought from Costco. They only cost $12 for two. Drip watering has reduced the splash up on the plants that can cause disease and mildew from the dirt.

There's some labor in gardening but we have enjoyed it and hope to even more enjoy eating the fruits of our labor! Gardening in Miami, Fl allows us to plant earilier than other states but the summer weather limits what can be planted here at that time.

I hope to post one more when the squash is visible.

Creamy Italian Salad Dressing/ the frugal way

I've been reading about living frugally recently.I think it began when my daughter informed me that you can make your own laundry detergent for pennies. I tried it and I was totally amazed. It takes a little time to make but lasts for at least 2 or 3 weeks depending on how much laundry you are doing in a week. For any relatives reading this, I can still afford groceries. I've always enjoyed getting the most for my money without settling for lesser quality. I would prefer to have high quality used things than new things that are poor in quality. A used linen shirt from a thrift store is a good example. Linen fabric shows little wear, lose little of their color, and last much longer than other fabrics. The down side is that it must be ironed unless you like the wrinkled look. (If you're young, the wrinkles don't matter. If you're my age, more wrinkles are not welcome.

The dollar doesn't buy as much as it did a year ago. I've noticed that my grocery bill sometimes includes an increase of things I buy that thirty years ago I didn't. I'm thankful that we have grocery stores that carry a multiple choice of items. But, regardless of your budget, you can easily spend more than you need to.

I had never thought of this until I read it in one of my cook books. If you buy Italian dressing and want creamy Italian also, you don't need to buy two bottles of dressing. Mix 1/2 cup mayonaise with 1/2 cup Italian dressing. (the oil and vinegar Italian dressing is the type I'm referring to.)  One less bottle of salad dressing to buy.

If you have a frugal tip, please leave it in your comment. I would love to share it.

The cooking, the gardening, and vacation Bible school??

This is my recipe blog. Sometimes I feel like writing about things other than recipes. We recently started our spring garden.  I didn't like the photo on this blog.  I couldn't find a photo that I liked until I found a photo of one of our pineapple plants. Now that I look at the photo on the page, I think the pineapple photo is beautiful!

I never knew pineapples were so easy to grow. I didn't even know you could grow them. I had believed that only farmers could grow these things.

 There was a previous time in my life that I thought differently about something else because I had not known that  the things that seem impossible are  quite possible. All things are possible with God. I felt like sharing this small but life changing experience of my life.

My husband and I were recently cleaning out my mother-in-laws home. She passed away last year. Among some of the photographs we found was an old vacation Bible school photo of my husband when he was about ten or eleven years old. The photo reminded me of my childhood and memories of attending vacation Bible school, Sunday School, and church. I think most families attended church on a fairly regular basis during the 50's. I always believed in God. From a young age, I sincerely loved Jesus. What was there not to love? He loved people, healed people, forgave people, fed the masses,  and  was the only human being who never sinned.(as a child  the sinlessness  of Jesus was  something unique in Jesus that I was in "awe" of Him)  Even children know that we are not perfect. I think even young children know that God is perfect. The one thing that I did not know as a child was that the Lord is a very personal God who does answer prayer.

In my early adult years, my sister-in-law who was  also a Christian,  told me that God really does answer prayer personally. This one little seed was planted in my mind that later would be the starting point that I trusted that the Lord would possibly answer my prayers.
  I had been practicing the piano in my music room when I sensed  the deepness of my sin,  that of my self centered nature, and  I humbly prayed to God for forgiveness. I needed to be humble. I think I had become more self confident, which doesn't leave a lot of room to rely on God on a daily basis. Self confidence is not a bad thing, but too much of it leads to pride.  I cannot recall what year it was other than my three oldest children were very young. I knew at that  moment that my prayer had been heard. Not only did I know that I was forgiven, but everything in my nature changed. My heart changed and at this point in time,  every area of my life began to transform in a very personal way. The goodness of God exceeds the limits of our finite minds.

  I  have to press toward the life that the Lord wants me to live. But even when I fail or fall short, He is a merciful, loving God. None of us are without sin even as believing Christians.) The  difference for the Christian is He's forgiven and does not enjoy sin or want to continue in it. He discovers the God of all comfort, the God who is a present help in time of trouble, and a Soverign God who controls all things. He works His good purposes for us individually, and yes, in a very personal way.

The most satisfying success I find in my daily endeavors of life comes through the strength that only the Lord can give.   I pray in thankfulness for all things. Even in the simple things we enjoy are blessings.  He gives us the ability to enjoy life and to enjoy whatever work our hands find to do.

Backyard Gardening

We have started our backyard garden. (I'm very excited as I think this year it may actually do well.) My DH made a raised bed garden. We're getting older and though I don't think we are quite in the "elderly" age bracket yet, it is becoming a challenge to do certain physical things we once did with ease. The level of effort it once took to do certain things has been ratched up a bit.  (What age would be appropriate to describe elderly anyway??)

  I could hardly believe my DH  was so willing to dig, weed, haul 50 lb. bags of garden dirt and fertilizer.  He's always very helpful. I am blessed.  If it were me and he asked me to do that I probably would have said "Are you out of your mind?"...not really. I would only think it. I wouldn't say it out loud. (I know,  it's just as bad to think it as to say it. ( I do appreciate that he is supportive of my endeavors, even if it's manual labor contributed on his part.)

Living in Florida is not like gardening elsewhere. I have at least 4 books on gardening. Two are books on Florida gardening. However, there is a great difference in temperatures and dirt in North Florida and South Florida. These Florida gardening books seem to relate more to North than South Florida.

We've previously had good results with tomatoes, bell peppers, and okra.
I have not yet accomplished growing yellow summer squash. Last year the rain beat it to death and what was left was attacked by snails. I've read up this year and hope to meet the bug challenge with success.
Ground egg shells in the garden are a deterant to snails and I also bought a snail insecticide. The insecticide are small pellets that are  sprinkled around the plant to keep the snails off.
(The snails also destroyed the green beans last year.)  I'm as persistant as these bugs and I'm looking forward to the day I can post some pics of some squash and green beans! 

Today we planted green beans at the back of the yard next to a chain link fence that the beans (hopefully) will be growing off the fence. We had to make a raised bed next to the fence also. We have dogs and they would most likely destroy the beans if not in a raised bed. I recently read that it might be a good idea to cover the area the beans are planted in with chicken wire to prevent birds from eating the young bean plants and seeds. I had only considered the insects and not birds. This is almost funny.  The next project may be a scarecrow for the garden.

I forgot to mention that we have been successful in growing pineapples. They grow easily here all year long. The pineapple plant has an almost thorny type leaf and the leaf is so tough it would be difficult for most insects to eat. (one for the humans!!)

BANANA BREAD

This is an improved recipe. It has sour cream in the batter and it improves the moistness and texture. The loaf pan is also greased, floured, and dusted with cinnamon/sugar. It takes about an hour to bake.

Preheat oven to  300 degrees. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans, if desired lightly  sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mix

Mix together well:  1/2 cup butter
                                 1 cup sugar
                               
Add  2 eggs, 3 over ripe bananas mashed or processed well, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

In a separate bowl or on wax paper, mix together 2 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
and then add to the butter/sugar batter.

If desired lightly toast 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts in a toaster oven tray, chop nuts and add to the banana bread batter. Lightly toasting the nuts greatly improves the flavor of the nuts in recipes. Another option is to sprinkle the batter lightly with cinnamon sugar before baking. I haven't tried this yet, so ican't comment on this addition other than others have done it and liked it.

Bake for about an hour. Check with a tooth pick to be certain the bread is thoroughly cooked.

I prefer to refrigerate my baked banana bread after the first servings are cut. It will stay in a refrigerator for at least a week or can be frozen.

Also, I recently discovered you can freeze your over ripe bananas in the skin, thaw and peel when you need them.

Spicy Baked Ziti

Spicy Baked Ziti

This recipe is not for the faint of heart. (It's Valentine's Day. Somehow "heart" got into the blog.
My husband likes spicy food so I changed the usual baked ziti recipe to a spicier version. It is good, but if you have children, it might be too hot with seasonings for children. My grandsons eat chili, so guess that depends on the child.

Brown 1 to 1/2 lbs. ground chuck with 1 chopped onion, 1 crushed garlic clove or garlic powder if you prefer garlic powder, use 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder. 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.
I strain the excess fat off the browned meat.

In a medium sized pot add the browned meat, 1 can of Mild Rotel tomatoes. If you don't like chunky tomoatoes, put it in a food processor to lightly process until it's more like a tomato puree but not so much as to a point of liquidating the tomatoes. I like to add 1 tablespoon of chili powder but it's not necessary. I also add a bit of Italian spices or just some oregano. Add 1 can of water. Simmer covered for about 20 minutes. In the mean time, boil some ziti (or even macaroni if that's what you have available) until soft but not too soft. Mine usually takes about 10 to 12 minutes of boiling time, but I check it so that it's not over cooked

Drain the ziti (or macaroni) stir into the meat sauce. Spray a 10 x13 baking pan with Pam or oil.
Layer 1/2 of the meatsauce in pan, 1 cup shredded mozarella cheese, last layer of meat sauce, top with more mozarella cheese, about 1 cup. If you like, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 until the cheese melts nicely, about 10 to 20 minutes depending on your oven. We usually have enough left over for one more dinner. (I love left overs, it gives the food time to marinate the spices particularly in Italian food.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

"It's the most wonderful time of the year" is a chorus from a Christmas song, and one of my favorites. I'm scanning through recipe books and magazines to prepare for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I think I need to lose about 10 pounds so I can regain it through November and December.

The stores have tables with new and older cookbooks ready for Christmas sales. Some years there are recipes that come along and become yearly Christmas dinner favorites. One of my favorite family recipes comes from a stash of handwritten recipes that someone left behind in an airplane. There was no name on the recipes, so there was no way we could return it to it's rightful owner. This is a good reason to have extra copies of your recipes. My mom and dad moved to Florida in the 50's. I remember her looking for for favorite donut recipe and never finding it. I always wondered just how good that recipe was.

The following recipe is for Pistachio Torte, the recipe my husband found on an airplane. I had no idea it would turn out to be one of my favorite holiday recipes and one that almost everyone has asked for the recipe after eating it.

Pistachio Torte

This is the crust recipe: Preheat oven to 375o

Mix well with a fork or pastry cutter: 1 cup flour
2 Tablespooons powdered sugar
1 stick butter, but into pieces
1/2 cup chopped nuts, I use pecans
Press into a 9x13 pan, it fits the pan though it seems like barely enough dough to cover the bottom of the pan. Use your finger tips to pat the dough into the pan, completely covering the bottom of the pan.
Bake about 10-15 minutes, watch closely so it doesn't burn

Make the first layer to pour over the baked and cooled crust.
Mix 1 pkg of cream cheese, 8 ounce size, beat in 2/3 cup powdered sugar. Mix with a hand mixer until smooth. Fold in 1/2 of a large container of Cool Whip or store brand whipped topping.
Pour this over the baked crust and refrigerate as you make the last layer.

Last layer: Mix 2 small pkgs of pistachio instant pudding mix (or use 1 large) 2 1/2 cups of milk, Mix well and add 1 teaspoon almond extract. Fold in the remainder 1/2 container of Cool Whip. Pour over the previous filling and swirl with a spatula for decorative look.
Refrigerate preferably overnight, but can be made early in the day and served 5 hours later. It should be well chilled and served immediately after cutting serving sizes.

If you have a favorite recipe you would like to share, please email the recipe and I will include it in my blog.

Chocolate Pie (vintage recipe)

If you like a very rich chocolate pie, this recipe is smooth and rich in flavor.
I wouldn't be surprised if this recipe was at least 100 years old or at least as old as Hershey Chocolate cocoa powder is. My grandmother made this for my dad who was the youngest of 8 children and he is 90 years old. It was one of his favorite pies.

In a saucepan combine in this order, mixing ingredients well:

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir in very gradually 2 cups milk. (In other words stir in 1/2 cup milk and mix well, then add the remainder of the milk and stir until completely mixed.) Cook over low heat and stir constantly till thickened. Briefly remove from heat and stir in 3 well beaten egg yolks To keep your filling smooth pour a small amount of the chocolate filling over the beaten eggs and beat quickly, pour this into the remainder of chocolate filling in the saucepan,
stirring quickly or use a wisk to mix it well for a smooth creamy chocolate filling.
Cook on low heat for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Remove from stove, stir in 2 Tablespoons of butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Pour this chocolate filling into a baked pie crust and top with merangue.Bake in a 375o oven until merangue is lightly browned.

(If you prefer a whipped cream topping, allow the pie to cool and refrigerate first. Then top with whipped cream or add whipped cream to each slice of pie.

Merangue

3 egg whites beaten until stiff peaks form, it is very important that the bowl you
beat the egg whites in has no oil residue or the whites will not beat to the desired stiffness.

Gradually pour in 1/3 cup sugar, mixing thoroughly, last beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Spread the merangue over the chocolate filling, sealing the edges of merangue to the pie crust edges. The chocolate pie should be completely covered in merangue.

Apple Pie

I bought a beautiful bag of apples today and made an apple crumb pie. We recently had visited my daughter in South Carolina and I couldn't believe the difference in taste of fresh apples compared to the ones I get in Florida. I guess shipping apples to Florida takes a few days and the apples most likely are picked a bit sooner so they can be shipped before they spoil.

I used a plain pie crust, poked it with a fork to prevent the pie crust from bubbling up out of shape. I baked the shell (empty) for about 5 minutes. This prebaking before adding the apple filling prevents a soggy bottom crust.



My basic apple pie filling is

Five or six apples, peeled and sliced about 1/4 inch
1/2 cup sugar, granultated or half brown and half granulated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons of water or lemon juice
Mix the apple filling ingredients well with a wooden spoon . You can also cook this mixture on the stove for 2 to 5 minutes and it makes the apples a bit softer. I usually do not do this, but I like it either way.

Pour the apple filling into the partially baked pie shell and top with a crumb topping. See crumb topping recipe below.

Crumb Topping
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar (granulated sugar is "white" sugar)
3/4 c flour and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix with a fork until crumbly or use a food processor to mix just till a crumbly mixture forms.

Bake pie in 375 degree preheated oven for about 30- 45 minutes or until bubbly and light brown. If the outer edges start to brown too quickly, place thin strips of foil over pie crust edges only.

Pork Chops and Rice Casserole

I used my slow cooker more in March than anytime in my life. Due to family emergencies, I pulled out my Crock Pot and tried new recipes that I could only hope would turn out to be half edible. I grew up learning to cook from scratch. Fast food was not as available then as it is now. Slow cooking is far better, cheaper, and more nutritious than most fast food. Most prep time is fast and best of all dinner is ready with a minimal of time spent in the kitchen.



I prefer to use recipes that have been vouched for by another cook which is for me recipes that are recommended by friends and relatives. Cooks Illustrated magazine is a great reference for trying "tested" recipes. Their test kitchen staff has contributed helpful comments on the recipes they've tested. The comments are quite detailed to a point of explaining why foods react certain ways in certain condtions.

I was a bit reluctant to try this pork chop recipe without an endorsement from another cook. I think "eat at your own risk recipes" are safer to be tried as appetizers, then you can take them or leave them. If it's your dinner, you could be looking for a fast food take out. A family member recently told me of a funny experience they had while eating at a friends home. The family member doesn't eat seafood. This being that he really does not like seafood in any form, shape, or fashion. The main course was fish. They politely passed by the main course plate without offending anyone. The next serving bowl that was passed is a nice bowl of pasta. My relative is thinking this is great, I can have a nice healthy portion of pasta salad instead of the fish. As his wife serves his plate with Pasta Salad, the host verbatim lists the ingredients as it is served to his plate...clams, shrimp, and ?? (whatever it was, it wasn't chicken or beef. ) The humorous part of the story was the look passed between the wife and husband as she served him Seafood pasta salad. Love bears all things, even seafood salad. (My next question was "didn't they have a family dog near the dining table?") I'm getting old and some of these family experiences give me quite a laugh. My dad used to say when you chew food that you don't like, it just seems to grow in your mouth. How fast can Pasta Seafood Salad grow?



The following recipe surprised me. It was quite good, simple, fast, and my family liked it. I adapted it from several recipes.

Pork Chops and Rice Slow Cooker Casserole

6 pork chops, lightly brown in skillet

Lightly spray crock pot with Pam or oil.

Place pork chops in crock pot

In a bowl mix 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 2 3/4 cups of water,
1 cup of white rice. (If you use brown rice, use about 3 1/2 cups water or as needed.)
1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, dash of oregano, parsley, or
your favorite spices. Wisk these ingredients to break down the lumps in the soup. I do not frequently use canned soups in recipes and can honestly say it doesn't taste like a recipe made with canned ingredients.

Pour the mixture over the pork chops in the crock pot.

Place lid on and cook on high about 3 hours or less. (When rice is
cooked, the pork chops will also be done.) You can cook this on low for
about 6 to 7 hours. If brown rice is used it could take an additional 30 minutes in cooking time.

I haven't tried this yet but I think finely chopped green bell peppers and a few spices would also enhance this recipe.

Carrot cake recipe

I found a new recipe for carrot cake. I haven't tried it yet, but the ingredients look like a good combination of spices and everything that makes a great carrot cake. It is a Mazola Corn Oil recipe and can also be found on their web page at Mazola.com. I like the size of this recipe. It isn't a large cake, but just large enough. I found the recipe in one of their newspaper ads. The recipe is posted below the Lasagna recipe.

Yesterday I made lasagna. There's a bit of time consumed in putting a pan of Lasagna together but it was well worth the effort. Not only did it taste great but I made enough to have left overs.

I tried a few things different with this Lasagna. I baked it in a cooler oven than I usually do (325 degrees instead of 350)

Lasagna

Brown in a 3 qt. pan: 1 1/2 lbs. of ground meat, 2 T. olive oil, finely chopped onion, 2 cloves of garlic.

add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper; Cook till light brown, drain off excess liquid. Add 16 ounce can tomato paste, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 can diced tomatoes or pureed tomatoes, 3 cans water, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon oregano, 1 teaspoon basil. Stir well, cover with lid. Simmer on low about an hour. Add more water if needed.

Boil 9 lasagna noodles in salted water for about 12 minutes.

Drain and rinse with cool water, set aside.

In bowl, mix 2 cups ricotta cheese, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 beaten egg, 1 teaspoon dried parsley.

In a 13x9 pan, spread 1/2 cup of sauce in pan, place 3 lasagna noodles on top of sauce,

Carrot Cake

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup Mazola® Corn Oil
1 teaspoon Spice Islands® Pure Vanilla Extract
1-1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon Spice Islands Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups grated carrots
3/4 cup chopped walnut OR pecans, divided

Cream Cheese Frosting:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons butter OR margarine, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Spice Islands Pure Vanilla Extract
1 to 2 teaspoons milk
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Mix sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla in a large bowl. Add flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt; blend well. Stir in carrots and 1/2 cup nuts until combined.
Pour batter into a greased 8 OR 9-inch square pan; bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Frost cake when cool. Use remaining nuts to garnish top of frosted cake.
For frosting: beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add enough milk to make desired spreading consistency.

Lentil Soup

I mentioned my daughter's Lentil Soup recipe in my last blog. If you've never tried homemade Lentil Soup, you won't be disappointed with this recipe. Canned soup is fine in a pinch, but there is no comparison to homemade soup.



Lentil Soup Recipe:

1 cup of dried lentils, these should be well rinsed; a colander works well
to rinse the lentils.

4 cups of liquid. I used 4 cups of water and 2 large beef bouillion cubes

You can use beef broth instead of water and bouillion if you prefer to.The liquids should be 4 cups regardless of which you use.



Simmer the above ingredients with a lid on the pan for about 15 to 30 minutes.Add 1 Tablespoon of Italian seasoning, salt to your taste, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.

Saute 1 onion, 1 stalk of celery, and a clove or two of garlic in 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.(Don't burn the garlic...as it will taste bad and ruin your soup.) Add the onion, garlic, and celery to the soup. Stir in 1 cup of mixed frozen vegetables and one peeled and cubed potato. Simmer until the vegetables are as tender as you like. Mine took about 20 to 30 minutes till done to my liking.

If you have some leftover ham you might like to add about 1/2 cup of cubed small pieces of ham.



I wanted some homemade bread to go along with this soup but had only an hour to bake a loaf before lunch time. I found a quick bread recipe that came with my bread maker and in 58 minutes had a fresh loaf of bread to serve with the soup. I prefer to let the bread cool about 20 minutes before slicing. Lunch was ready in about an hour and a half. Frugally speaking, we had plenty left over for tomorrow's lunch.

I don't think the bread has the quality of a loaf that takes three hours from start to finish but it was honestly very good. I have never baked a fast loaf before and was in a daring mood to try something new.



The fast bake recipe could be baked in your oven instead of a bread maker. If you plan to bake in an oven you would mix the dough in a bowl and pour into two buttered loaf pans. Let rise and bake at 350 degrees until the loaf is lightly browned in color. It makes a very hearty 2 lb loaf of bread in a bread machine and can be used also for toast, french toast, and sandwhiches. It is easier to cut if cooled 20-30 minutes out of the pan. Sawing the loaf with a bread knife makes a cleaner slice of bread.

Fast Bake Bread Recipe :
Pour 1 1/2 cup warm water into your bread machine loaf pan, 6 Tablespoons of vegetable oil, 3 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 4 cups of all purpose flour or bread flour, 4 teaspoons of dry yeast. Select the Fast Bake program on your bread machine, select for a 2 lb. loaf. If you have a smaller bread machine divide the recipe in half and select the fast bake cycle of your bread maker.



The day I wrote the first blog I cooked chili for dinner and found a faster way to make cole slaw. I usually spend 30 minutes making a homemade cole slaw. I did a one bowl method with this. Shred about 3/4 head of cabbage and 1 carrot with your food processor. (Or buy it already shredded in the grocery store.) Place shredded cabbage and carrot in a large mixing bowl. Squeeze about 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice on top of cabbage. Add 1/2 cup of mayonaise, 1 Tablespoon of milk,2 Tablespoons of sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of celery seed, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a bit of pepper if desired. Stir well. This took 5 minutes to make and is a healthy vegetable as nothing is cooked. Store in refrigerator and eat the same day or one day after mixing. Cole slaw is best served fresh or no more than the day after it's made.

I'm looking for recipes that are somewhat simple and pass the taste test. I'll be posting my treasure of good tasting recipes as I find them. A friend recently gave me a recipe for a very simple vegetable soup. I'll post it after I've tried the recipe. The Farmers Almanacs are predicting a colder winter this year. In South Florida anything below 75 degrees is cold for most of us. If we have a 50 degree day time temperature, it's funnier than Comedy Central. People dress up like they were facing a blizzard. I think I'll take my digital camera with me to the grocery store the next time we have a really cold day and post the pics and include what the weather was that day. I'm certain it will bring a few laughs to anyone north of Florida. You'll have to see the heavy duty coats that come out during a cold front in South Florida. Maybe it's just an opportunity to wear a new coat as it might not get cold enough to have the chance to wear it again until next year.

I must be looking forward to the change of seasons. We have so little change from summer that fall is almost a non event. I enjoy looking at the early Christmas decorations in the stores as it is an awareness we're finally getting closer to a change from summer weather. This is a bit hypcritical on my part. In one breath I'm looking for cool weather and in the next I'm remembering how cold that last winter weather was, just like the people I'm writing about.

There was an article in our paper today about container gardening. We've been successful at it. (Or should I say my husband is the successful one. He's the one that actually waters and cares for the plants.) I cook them so maybe that justifies the "we" part of the gardening. Funny thing about the article is the gardener was also a man. Is this a man thing? I think it's probably a man thing with a woman thing behind the whole thing. "Hey Honey", this guy in the newspaper article has 10 containers of pole beans growing on his patio and we only have 5. " The reasoning behind this conversation is, tell a man his neighbor has more and he'll be inspired to compete for the sake of competition. And lastly, you'll have pole beans through May of next year because the guy in the newspaper started the whole thing.

Rain, politics, and what's for dinner

I live in sunny Florida. That is not a total truth. South Florida has hurricanes and rainy seasons and calling it sunny Florida is a half truth. In my opinion it's about half rain and half sun. Today is one of those rainy days. Thankfully, it's rain and not a hurricane. I've come to a point in life that when the rain gets heavy here, I turn on the news to see if I missed a hurricane warning. (That was a joke.) I just came home from the store and as I was leaving the store, a heavy rain came out of nowhere. We keep our umbrella's in the car. It rarely rains when you are leaving the house. It's usually when you least expect it. Having an umbrella in the car is the safest way to stay dry. When you're prepared, it doesn't rain. This is a blog and I can expect I'll read this another day and think to myself, what was I thinking writing all that junk about rain. I hope my daughter who lives in South Carolina will get a laugh out of this blog. She grew up here and will fondly remember some of those rainy days. I think that she would be more likely to remember hurricane Andrew than the rainy days. I'll save the details of hurricane Andrew for another day. Now that it's many years past, we had some very funny stories of the days following the hurricane to tell.
It's time to think about what's for dinner. That was probably the most common phrase I heard when my kids were growing up. Now that my kids are grown, I'm not harrassed by the guilt that everyone in the family is getting hungry and dinner isn't even started. Thankfully, my husband is kind and never says "Are we eating dinner tonight?" He's a Great Griller and can smoke the ribs right off the bone.

I have a really good Lentil soup recipe I want to post. I rarely ever had lentil soup until my daughter made me some. Wow! What I've missed all these years. I will post her recipe on my next blog.