Summer is Surely Here! Or It Sure Is Hot Hot Hot

Wow has it been hot!!  I chose this desert picture from our vacation a few years back because this heat we have been having reminds me of the desert. Summer is surely here and the heat with it. It has been a scorcher and heat indices are up in the 100's here. It makes you just want to stay in and enjoy the air conditioning and not do much, including heating the place up cooking. With my Myasthenia Gravis and other conditions I don't do well in the heat. It zaps my strength really fast and takes longer to recover so I stay in mostly unless it is to go out on a ride where I go from air conditioned home to air conditioned car and back again. We have become so soft compared to what we use to be. I can remember when there were no air conditioners in the homes and we opened windows and played outside under the trees. We seemed to handle the heat better then, but now after years of air conditioning our bodies don't seem to like the hot weather anymore. Can you imagine what our Grandparents and Great Grandparents did before there was air conditioning everywhere you went. What if we had to go back to living without? I just am thankful for what I have to keep me cool and comfortable so that I don't get sick or weak.

I have been trying to catch up on some reading and genealogy this week  but the three day weekend slowed me down. We did go on a road trip and went to some museums this weekend.  I will share pictures later. I just wanted to pop in and let you know I have not melted away, I am still kicking.

Last thought is that I have been trying to come up with recipes to use so that when my husband gets home from working in the heat all day he can have a light,refreshing meal since he doesn't feel much like eating after  8 hours in the heat. I don't want to bake and have been looking at easy desserts that he might like and that wouldn't require much cooking or baking.
 Here is one of my Grandmother's Hot Weather dessert recipes appropriately called:
                                 Hot Weather Strawberry Pie

This is in my Grandmother Gusta Jester's own hand writing so I hope you can read it from the pictures I took of the recipe cards. I think this would be just as good without the crust. Maybe try it with a different flavor of jello and fruit also. Hope you try it and enjoy. Please stay cool and safe in this heat.


                                                       UNTIL NEXT TIME:
                                          JOURNEY ON!

Throw Back Thursday Recipe of My Grandmothers

Guess I have been feeling a little nostalgic this week and was looking at some of my Grandmothers old recipes. My Grandmothers were good cooks and we always loved what they had for use to eat. My Grandma Snodgrass lived with us and she taught me how to make fudge, divinity, noodles and so many other things. Grandma Jester could make a hamburger special and so good. I loved her hamburgers, fried chicken and just about anything she cooked but her baking goodies were the best. I loved her Watergate Cake, her Banana Cake and all the breads and cookies she made. I thought today on Throw Back Thursday to share one of Grandma Jesters Recipes with you. Sure does bring back memories.

 

This Recipe is in Grandma's handwriting which makes it special to me. This Cake was so moist and flavorful and I loved it. When she died she had one in the freezer for a friend who loved this cake. What a treat.

 

This is a picture of my Grandma Gusta F Bilyeu Jester.

Hope you will try Grandma's Recipe. It was fun thinking about her and all her goodies she made us.

 

 

Memories in a Recipe and baking for Throw Back Thursday

It has been snowy here and so my daughter in law decided to back with my 2yr old grandson on a snow day yesterday. He has been helping bake since he was old enough to stir with a spoon and loves to do this with his mom. Messy or not this is making good memories for them both. Here is a picture his mom took of him baking yesterday oatmeal scones. He had to wear Mommies apron too.

 

 

Here is the Throw Back Thursday Recipe for my Mom's Eggless Cake. She made this for me every year for my birthday and I loved it. Good Memories here too.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Mom's eggless cake recipe

 Mom's Eggless Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 cups buttermilk
3 cups flour
2 tsps soda
3-4 tsps cinammon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

In mixer mix all the above ingredients together alternating the milk and flour
Pour into a greased and floured 13"x9" cake pan
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 min or until done in the middle. Test by inserting knife in middle and if comes out clean done

Icing
Combine 1 cup brown sugar
2 tbls milk
2 tbls coconut (add more to your taste)
Mix and sprinkle on top of cake while cake is still hot
Put under broiler till bubbles

Now I know this recipe is not gluten and corn free but I am going to replace with gluten free all purpose flour and try it. Will post how it comes out then Until then try this recipe because it is a delicious cake.

Sloppy Joe Casserole Recipe

     Hope everyone's week was good.  I have finished a couple of books and posted the reviews on my other blogs, started crocheting a baby blanket, started 3 more books, tried some new recipes for dinner and did some genealogy. Good week.

     I made homemade hamburger soup that we all love on Tuesday night and decided to try a recipe from Bisquick for gluten free bread sticks. I wasn't sure if this was going to work but they really turned out good. I got the recipe from http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/biscuit-sticks/5d670e15-a7da-4091-b59d-e8d3f1766acb. I just added about 1/4 tsp to the Bisquick whisked them together and then followed the recipe. They turned out really good, sorry I didn't think to take a picture of them. Try these with regular Bisquick or like I did use the gluten free Bisquick.

   Thursday night I wanted to use up the russet potatoes that I was afraid would go bad and the hamburger I had left.  The same old thing of hamburgers and fried potatoes didn't sound good to me, I wanted something different so I decided to make a Sloppy Joe Casserole instead.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef I used 85% for less fat
1 can Manwhich ( you can use any sauce you want that you normally use for sloppy joes. I usually make my own but had this can and decided to make it easy on myself)
5 potatoes
shredded cheddar cheese
Ketchup
olive oil

Directions

Pre heat your oven to 400 degrees.
Brown your ground beef. Drain the fat and then add your can of Manwhich or sauce you use. Simmer.
While you are simmering the sloppy joe cut up your potatoes into thin slices. Put olive oil in to your skillet and heat. Put potato slices into oil and cook till tender like you would for fried potatoes.

Take a pan and put the sloppy joe hamburger mix in the bottom. Top with the potatoes. Now cover with aluminum foil and put in oven for 10 minutes covered. Take out and drizzle ketchup over the top of the potatoes and then put the cheddar cheese on top to cover the potatoes. Put back in oven for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted completely. Serve with a nice salad and the breadsticks from the above recipe and you have a delicious meal.

I would have used hash browns or tator tots instead of the russet potatoes but I needed to use up the potatoes. I think if you used either one of these it would be really good.
It was a hit at our house.

Stew Casserole or Stewcarole

 Here is another recipe that was one of those, don't want the same old thing for dinner, recipes but on a limited budget and made with just what I had in the refrigerator and pantry. We call it Stew Casserole or as my Grandson says Stewcarole. There is no picture because the family ate it so fast I didn't have a chance, it was a big hit.


Stew Casserole or Stewcarole

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
3 lg baking potatoes
1/2 pkg frozen mixed vegetables
olive oil
butter
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
1 cup Ketchup
2 Tbl taco seasoning
2 Tbl chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
6-8 slice American cheese or cheese of your choice

Directions:
In skillet drizzle the bottom with olive oil and heat. Add 1/4 of a stick of butter to skillet and melt. When the oil and butter are heated you can add the peeled and thinly sliced potatoes to the skillet. Potatoes should be thin like you would have them for fried potatoes. Heat the potatoes till they just start to heat through and are starting to get tender. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees while you are cooking the potatoes in the skillet. When potatoes are ready put them with the oil and butter from the skillet on to a sheet pan in a single layer. Salt and pepper to taste. Put in oven for 20 minutes or until they start to crisp and brown turning once half way through cooking time. Now while the potatoes are in the oven brown the hamburger. Drain. Also in a pan cook the vegetables like it says on the package. Add chili powder and taco seasoning to the ground beef give it a stir till it is mixed well into the hamburger. Add the BBQ and Ketchup to create the sauce on the meat ( if you need to you can add more BBQ sauce and ketchup) Add the cooked drained vegetables to the hamburger mix well. let simmer till potatoes are ready.
When the potatoes are done remove them from the oven. Pour the hamburger vegetable mixture evenly in a 9X13 pan. Layer the potatoes on top in a single layer covering the hamburger mixture completely. Top with the sliced cheese on top of the potatoes. Put in oven for 5 minutes or till cheese is melted. Serves 4-6 depending on size of serving or how hungry they are. Add a nice side salad and garlic bread and you have a nice dinner in no time at all.

This is a very easy meal to make and at our house it was a big hit. You can make it with gluten free BBQ sauce and Ketchup and spices like I did.  To make your own garlic butter and bread  you can   melt a 1/4 stick of butter. To the butter add gluten free garlic powder and mixed them together. Then I used my gluten free bread for myself and regular bread for the family. I didn't have a baguette so I used sandwich bread. I put on a cookie sheet the bread and  spread it with the garlic butter and placed under the broiler till toasted. It works in a pinch when you don't have French bread or baguettes. Since I made this meal I see that Udi's brand has a gluten free baguette that I will try next time.

Hope you will give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.

What's For Dinner? LeftOvers!

   I don't know where you are on the leftover debate but I love leftovers. As a kid growing up I thought everyone ate leftovers. I loved them. My favorite I think was when we had leftover roast beef and if we had enough we would have roast beef hash the next day. Roast beef, onions, and potatoes chopped into bite size pieces and fried in a skillet yum. Mouth watering just thinking about it. If we only had a little roast left my Grandmother would make Roast salad like tuna salad. That is so wonderful on a sandwich or just by itself. You just grind up the roast or like I do chop into small bite size pieces add mayo and pickle relish and mix all together and eat. Those are just some of my favorite ones from my childhood. Of coarse I loved left over  fried chicken, hamburgers and spaghetti too, but those I just ate cold and usually for breakfast.

   When I first got married we had a lot of leftovers because I was use to cooking for 7 not 2. So glad my  husband didn't mind leftovers either or we would have lost a lot of food. The key to leftovers is not just serving the same thing but to figure ways to use them that is different than what you had to begin with.

 This brings us to tonight's dinner and what to do with our leftover white rice and hot dogs. Now to you that might sound like just heat and eat but to me it was a challenge to make something that was different so here is what I came up with and it was a big hit. No leftovers of the leftover meal which is a good thing.

Ingredients:
6 left over grilled hot dogs
2 1/2 cups cooked white rice
1 cup frozen green beans
olive oil
1/2 stick of butter
1 cup ketchup
1 cup bbq sauce
2 tablespoons honey mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
salt to taste
pepper to taste
6 slice American cheese

Directions:

In large skillet drizzle olive oil to coat bottom when olive oil starts to heat up add the butter and when warm add rice. Make sure you have broken the rice up so that it doesn't have any big clumps. Heat on medium heat stirring to keep from scorching. Cute the hot dogs up into bite size pieces and add to rice. In a separate bowl mix the ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce and brown sugar till sugar is dissolved. To the rice and hot dogs add the green beans, the chili powder and salt and pepper. Then add the sauce you made and stir till all the rice and hot dogs and green beans are coated. Cover and heat on medium heat for 10 minutes stirring once in awhile . When completely heated through and the green beans are done add the 6 slices of cheese around the skillet and put lid back on. When the cheese begins to melt stir it into the mixture and you are ready to eat. Serve with a nice salad and some bread and butter. It make a great meal. Try it you might be surprised just how good it is.

Chicken Fajita Rice Skillet

Chicken Fajita Rice Skillet

I again found myself in need of a quick and tasty dinner. Looking to see what I had in the pantry and fridge this is what I came up with. It actually was very good and everyone liked it. Was good the next day too for lunch. I find sometimes, actually more times than I want to admit, I find myself doing last minute quick cooking, but this will be one of my go to meals when I find myself in that spot.

Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken strips cubed ( I used fully cooked fajita chicken bought from store)
3 cups white rice
1 pkg frozen rainbow mixed vegetables ( vegetables were corn, peas, green peppers cubed and red peppers cubed)
1 cup Velveeta cheese
1 cup salsa

Directions:
Cube the chicken strips and place in a large skillet. Heat the chicken. Cook rice and vegetables as directions on their package states. While this is going on cube Velveeta cheese and place in microwave safe bowl along with the salsa. Microwave at 20 sec intervals stirring in between till cheese is beginning to melt. When chicken is heated through add the cooked rice and vegetables to the skillet. Stir and add the Velveeta cheese and salsa, you can add more cheese and salsa to your taste we had one in the house that didn't like spicy so we didn't add as much salsa as we might otherwise. Turn to low and simmer for 5 min or till heated through.
Dish up with a side salad and cornbread and you have a good meal. If you use salsa that is gluten free then you have a great gluten free meal also.
This dinner can be made by cooking your own chicken and using fresh vegetables too, but like I said I needed quick tonight. Hope you will give this a try and let me know what you think.

Gluten Free Beef Teriyaki and Rice

Last night was one of those nights where I had to go to the freezer and pantry and use what I had there because I needed a fast easy and delicious dinner. I had frozen vegetables, rice and ground beef, so I made Gluten Free Beef Teriyaki and rice. It was wonderful and the husband loved it which is a big plus to any recipe. Truth be told I spent most of the day finishing a baby afghan and wrist warmers so I had completely forgotten about dinner so had to have a fast solution. If you ever find yourself needing something good and quick give it a try.

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 pkg frozen Vegetable Medley ( mine had the mix of broccoli, red peppers, and green beans)
1 cup cooked rice
1 13.5 oz bottle of Island Organic Teriyaki from Organiville Foods. They have two different gluten free teriyaki sauces and either one would be great for this dish. http://organicvillefoods.com/category/products/teriyaki-sauces/

Directions:
Brown ground beef in large skillet and drain. While browning the ground beef cook your cup of rice. I cooked mine in a rice cooker which made it really easy. Also cook the frozen vegetables while browning the meat. Add the frozen vegetables, rice and bottle of teriyaki to skillet, mix well lower heat and let simmer for 10 minutes or till all is heated through and the flavors have mix in well.
Serve with more rice or with a salad and you have a great meal.

Num. 6: 24-26 KJV
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
 The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.