Black Bean Burger recipe

I "parked" the black bean burger recipe I shared Saturday on my old food "blog".  You can always access Coffee Tea Books and Recipes by clicking on the photo of the jelly jar (Christmas Jam) on the sidebar of this blog. 

In the early years of blogging, I used to put a lot of our favorite recipes there.  It is not an actual recipe website and you will notice it doesn't have as many photos as I would like.  It was a place to write out the recipes I was talking about in a blog post, just like the black bean burgers.

If you have never tried a black bean burger, you may be surprised at how good they are.  My husband does not like anything spicy but he does like the "Tex Mex" flavor.

You can find the recipe directly by clicking... here.  As the recipe indicates, you can control the amount of spice by what kind of salsa you use.

Living the Pantry Lifestyle - February baking and Valentine's Day

Thank you for the comments and suggestions two weeks ago.  I always learn something new! 

By February, I'm ready for winter to be over, especially one like this winter which has been very cold and had too many days when the roads were ice covered.  I'm beginning to notice photos on Instagram from the deep south that are looking like SPRING.  It will eventually make its' way here but it takes awhile.

In the past, February was a month in which I did a lot of baking.  I don't bake as much these days but February tempts me back to the mixer and oven.  Today I'm going to bake a cake (although this time I'm using a favorite cake mix) and I will freeze one layer of the cake for another time.

I've noticed how cakes in Great Britain were usually one layer unless they were for a very festive occasion that needed to serve a lot of people.  So a few years ago, with a need to monitor sugar intake and be more frugal... I started freezing one of the layers for later when I made a two layer cake.  I make my own buttercream icing so it is quite easy to make half the amount as usual.

I learned from nutrition classes when we lived in Detroit that it is a false assumption diabetics cannot eat any sugar (now we have to monitor all carbs).  That comes from the days it used to be called "sugar diabetes" (my uncle also had adult onset juvenile diabetes and that is what it was called then).  Instead, my nutritionist taught me to enjoy a small piece of pie or cake at times and always with protein.  That way people better manage cravings.  So my one layer cake fits that direction nicely.

I was thinking last week that Valentine's Day is coming up and it was a holiday where I enjoyed making something special when I had children at home.  I tried to manage expectations when both of my kids were growing up. They didn't expect (and neither did I), an expensive piece of jewelry each year to celebrate.

My expectations of the holiday came from my parents.  Each Valentine's Day, my mother bought me a small heart shaped box of candy, the kind that had a tiny doll or some item like silk flowers on the top of the package. I came to associate Valentine's Day with chocolates.  Although to be honest, I could probably make a case for chocolate any day of the year.

While I did purchase chocolates once in awhile, I enjoyed making some of my own items for both Valentine's Day and Easter.  I thought I'd a few of these and other dessert recipes with you.  Some recipes can be tweaked for Christmas, too.

Raspberry Truffle Brownies... here.
These are the perfect brownies for a special occasion.  They look difficult to make but they are not as long as you follow directions and people rave about them.  (Photo shown above.)


Rachel Ray's Fudge... here.
This is a delicious and easy fudge from her old 30 Minute Cooking show.  I make it for Christmas gifts but it is perfect for other holidays.

Creamy Cheese Dessert Parfait... here.
I've made these for holidays before.  The recipe is simply the cheesecake filling of my Cherry Cheesecake Pie made into a parfait quickly and easily.

Beverly Nye's Candies
Homemade Mounds bars... here.
This recipe has other options on this page.

Homemade Mints... here.
Perfect for holidays, baby showers, wedding showers, etc.

Homemade Peanut Butter Easter Eggs... here.
I have made these at other times than Easter by rolling into balls instead of an egg form.

Photo:  From Country Woman Magazine where I originally found the recipe.

Living the Pantry Lifestyle - Some favorite Christmas recipes

Photo from Country Woman magazine

This next week, I will be doing most of my Christmas baking and candy making. I like to put together a basket or cute gift bag of a variety of goodies when I give them as a gift.

Instead of combining baked goods with "gifts in a jar" this year, I am giving a few items that require baking or preparing somewhat in the last few days before the gift giving.  But most can be made ahead.  I can bake the mini loaves of cranberry orange and pumpkin chocolate chip bread ahead of time and pull out of the freezer shortly before assembling the basket (the mini loaves of cranberry orange bread are already in the freezer).

However, beginning this weekend, I'm making the shortbread dough for the freezer to save time during Christmas week.  It needs to be prepared one batch at a time since it will be baked in a mold but that is very easy.  Each batch goes together quickly and can be made one after the other in the Kitchen Aid mixer.  I will freeze each batch separately and then a day or two before assembling the basket, I will bake them (defrosting the dough in the frig overnight).

Last year I baked a few of the batches in the Christmas mold but a couple batches were simply rolled out and cut with a round cookie cutter.  I sprinkled them with course sugar before baking and they were a big it.  This is a way to stretch the shortbread to feed more people since they are thinner cookies and make more.  The cookies baked in the mold are much thicker.

The two "maybes" on the list include the Christmas Jam recipe (photo from Country Woman as I have forgotten to take a photo before) and madeleines.  I've collected madeleine pans through the years (I think I have one for regular size cookies and two for miniatures... or is it the other way around?).  We'll see if there is enough time for those to be added, although it would be lovely.

Below are links to some of my favorite Christmas recipes and then my favorite shortbread recipe (with a variation) is included here.  It needs to be added to the recipe blog.  ;)

Christmas Jam... here.
Candied Cranberries... here.
Cranberry Bread and Pumpkin Bread... here.
Rachel Ray's Fudge... here.
Beverly Nye's Candy... here.

Cookies made from my mold last year.

Lemon Shortbread
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar (unsifted)
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 cup flour (unsifted)

Cream the butter until it is light.  Mix in the powdered sugar and the grated lemon peel.  Slowly work in the flour.  Knead the dough on unfloured board until nice and smooth.

If baking in a mold, spray the mold lightly with a veggie oil spray.  Press the dough into the shortbread pan firmly.  Prick the entire surface with a fork, and bake the shortbread right in the pan at 325 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes until just lightly browned.

Let the shortbread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before loosening the edges with a knife and flip the pan over carefully.  Cut the shortbread into serving pieces while it is still warm (or as I plan to do this year, leave it intact for the design and let the recipients just break off pieces of the cookie later).

Shortbread cookies can also be made by rolling out the dough, cutting with a small cookie cutter, and baking at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Another version of shortbread can be made with the following ingredients, baking as per instructions above:

Classic Shortbread
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar (unsifted)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour (unsifted)

Both versions of shortbread are recipes from Brown Bag Cookie Art and came with the shortbread mold.

Homemade tahini and Israeli salad

Well, Blogger is not letting me upload my garden pictures so I thought I'd share this recipe for tahini from Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood (a library book which is now on my Wish List).  :)

She says tahini can be hard to find at stores in the country so she included this recipe in her Georgia Pate recipe (which she calls hillbilly hummus as it uses boiled peanuts).

Homemade Tahini

1 cup toasted sesame seeds

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Blend together (I assume this means in a blender) and store in refrigerator up to two weeks.

Yes, you must try the Jerusalem Salad.  It is delicious.  I first tried it at one of the Mediterranean restaurants near campus.  

There is another similar dish which is called Israeli Salad, which is (or so I have read) the official salad of Israel and included in their daily meals.  I haven't made it but I plan to soon. 

It is very much like the Jerusalem Salad but it also includes onions and it has a lemon and extra virgin olive oil dressing (and does not use tahini).  I did a little searching and found a recipe that is simple but does not include the onions most recipes call for... here.

I'm working on the Recommendations List... slowly but surely.  It is taking awhile but as with most things in my life... it does get accomplished "a little bit at a time".  ;)

Hummus and Jerusalem Salad

I have posted the recipes for hummus and for Jerusalem Salad on Coffee Tea Books and Recipes... here.

If you have never visited my recipe blog, it is actually more of an online bloggy cookbook where I post recipes I've talked about here as well as favorite family recipes.

The recipes are divided by type and links are provided on the sidebar... such as main dishes, salads, cookies, cakes, etc.

Books, cakes, and calories

To answer a couple of comments... it was after I wrote about I Love Books that I realized I should have been more specific about the editions.  Yes, the "fatter" volume was the same book just expanded in what he had written.  It had many printings, starting in the 1942 and this larger edition is from 1957.  If you love good literature, old books, and "books about books"... you will be very happy reading this one.  :)

Oh, my... anyone is free to write a "What I read this month" post.  I'm certain I started writing one years ago after enjoying the same type of post on friend's blogs.  Now, I must tell you that I only write about books I've actually read through all the way or at least almost finished.  I don't include any reading materials I pick up and peruse during the day.

Just this morning I was putting back an object on the hutch in the living room and happened to glance at some of my antique books displayed on those shelves.  I remembered John D. Snider mentioning Oliver Wendell Holmes in passing so I picked up the sweet little volume of essays titled Over the Teacups and curled up on the sofa to re-read the Introduction.

I must admit, I bought this little book at the used book room at our library last year because of the title (blush).  It was just a couple of dollars and I thought it would look cute on the hutch.  However, after reading some of it, I was inspired to search for the other three books... the actual "Breakfast Table" series of which this is kind of-part of... a caboose of sorts which he wrote late in life.   I have "The Autocrat" and "The Poet".

One of the things I found amusing (and rather sad at our lack of education) is that Holmes slipped from English into Latin once in awhile, knowing the average American would know what he was writing.  As late as my husband's high school class (he is seven years older than I am), reading Latin was necessary to be considered educated. 

All of this rabbit trail to say... I don't include this type of reading in my "Books I read this month" posts.  I'd have to carry a little notebook with me and then I would get distracted and never get to the housework of the day.

Now... about cakes and calories (which just naturally go along with the cakes)... I threw together a cake today from ingredients I had on my shelves and the result was absolutely yummy.  I'll eventually get the recipe on the recipe blog but it was simply this:

1 box yellow cake mix
1 can apple pie filling
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together in a bowl, pour into a 9 x 13 pan, bake @ 350 degrees for 25 to 30 min (I tend to under bake cookies and over bake cakes by a couple minutes).

Although it would be fine as it is, especially with whipped cream or ice cream (neither of which I have at the moment)... I made a simple glaze of 2 cups confectioners sugar and just enough milk to make it pourable.  I also added about a teaspoon of maple extract but vanilla would do, too.

I poured this over the cooled cake and then put it in the frig to set up.  You don't want a thick frosting but just a thin glaze because the cake is very moist and full of fruit.

Wow, sometimes experiments turn out great!  Hmmm... wonder how this would taste with a spice cake mix?

Calories... that's what one absorbs just by looking at this cake... much less eating it.  When one resembles Pooh after a winter of no exercise, too many calories are not a good thing but if one is going to cheat (not only considering calories but blood sugar numbers)... this is it.

Picture: Apple Pie Harvest; allposters.com

The recipes are posted

I finally have the old cowboy casserole and the new lentil soup recipes posted... here.

I love finding new recipes that are cheap and delicious!  Even my husband (who is not as fond of lentils as I am) loves the lentil soup with bacon.

With the rising prices of food showing up each time I go to the grocery store, I am so glad I've assembled a good collection of simple but yummy recipes through the years.   Many of them came from my three old Beverly Nye cookbooks.

Since Christopher is not all that fond of lemon desserts (even with the sweeter Meyer lemons), I wanted to make a treat he'd enjoy so I pulled out one of my Beverly Nye recipe for cocoa bars and frosted them with an easy chocolate frosting.  This recipe makes a cake style brownie... here.

Lucious lemon chicken soup

Sally, this recipe is for YOU... and I'll share it with others.  :)

I was perusing through the recent Mary Janes Farm magazine at the grocery store when I came upon a section of soup recipes.  Lots of soup recipes.  Among them a recipe for a soup I came to love when we lived in Detroit except this recipe called for orzo instead of the white rice in the Greek Lemon Chicken Soup.  (Many of the restaurants in the suburb where we lived were owned by Greek families and this soup was quite popular.)

So, this magazine was put in my cart with the explanation to my husband (aka: watcher of the budget) that it had a lemon chicken soup recipe in it.  "Buy it," said he...

With a snowstorm on the way, I defrosted two whole chickens from the deep freeze last week.  Whole chickens on sale are one of the bargains of the meat counter.  I usually bake both, remove the meat, and make chicken soup from the remainder of the chickkies.  This time, I baked one of them to serve that night and simmered the other chicken with an onion for chicken stock... just for this soup.

I let the stock sit overnight in the frig so the fat would come to the top (my mother never threw away chicken or bacon fat... they just didn't do that in her day).

It didn't take long at all to assemble the rest of the soup and it was very good when I tried some of it at the end of the cooking time.  However, I put the lid on the ancient Le' Cruset dutch oven and let it sit awhile before warming and serving for dinner.  It went from good to absolutely luscious and delicious as the lemon zest had married with the orzo and the milk and... well, all I say is you have to make this soup.  I like it even better than the Greek chicken rice soup of Detroit restaurants!

I had planned to add a picture but it was all eaten quite too quickly to get the camera out.  Of course, as usual, I will add this to my recipe blog where you can click on Soup on the sidebar and get the recipe any time.  I promise to add a picture the next time I make it (which will be soon).

Also... although I started with a whole chicken and made my own stock, I believe this would be just as good with a nice quality chicken broth and perhaps the meat from a rotisserie chicken, should you decide to make this at the last minute some day and you stop at the grocery on the way home. 

Here is the Lemon Chicken Soup with orzo recipe as was written in Mary Janes Farm magazine...  Add 3/4 cup orzo pasta to 4 1/2 cups boiling chicken broth, continue to boil for 5 minutes.  Add 1 cup diced cooked chicken, 2 T lemon juice, 1 T. lemon peel, 1 T. minced fresh dill, and 1 T. minced fresh parsley.  Slowly add 2 cups milk, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serves 4.

My Notes:  I used zest of one whole lemon, juice of half a lemon, about 1/3 tsp. dried dill, and no parsley.  I'd double the recipe if you are not serving anything else with the soup.

This would be amazing with Stephanie's lemon scones (although I would leave out the blueberries to serve it with this soup)... recipe here.

My version of this recipe on the recipe blog is... here.

Why I love my pantry

When my son (who should know better but he is in the midst of finals... so I forgive him) calls to tell me he could use a cake or a pie to take to his bosses' Christmas party... the next day.

I can turn all of the above...

Into this...  

Actually, two trays of goodies with plenty of leftovers for Dad. 

The pumpkin bars were made more Christmas-y with the addition of Christmas sprinkles, probably purchased on clearance last year... or two years ago... they last virtually forever.

This very favorite family recipe can be found... here.  It serves a lot and doesn't cost much (especially if you can stock up when the items are on sale).

The cinnamon rolls

I was quite tired by the time the dough finished its' first rising... so this was my easy way out.

Cinnamon rolls were covered with maple icing (not as thick as cake icing but not a glaze) all over the top and walnuts pressed into half of them.  :)

This has been my "go to recipe" for bread and cinnamon rolls since my husband and Stephanie gave me the bread machine as a gift in the 1990s.

Food talk

I spent a rather pleasant time Sunday afternoon printing out quite a few recipes (from favorite recipe blogs and websites) that I want to try soon.  A few cookbooks are being read for ideas.  It is the culinary equivalent of perusing seed catalogs while it snows for a gardener.

I need a little excitement in the kitchen... something other than the same old/same old.... recipes that are healthy and can save me money... or decadent desserts done on a dime (say that three times).  I'll share them on the recipe blog if they work out well.

I thought I'd share this link to a recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook for Buffalo Chicken Dip... here.  Just in time for football parties this weekend.  Christopher and his friends love Buffalo chicken wings but they are very expensive to purchase (and have you noticed how the price of wings at the grocery store has gone up with their popularity?).  I bought the ingredients to try this soon.

Rachel Ray has a similar recipe that she makes with a rotisserie chicken and pours some blue cheese dressing over before serving.  I may use a rotisserie chicken but the blue cheese would have to be "on the side" in my house.

Stephanie sent me a recipe for chocolate peanut butter whoopie pies this morning.  Her friend made them and she tells me they are delicious.  I have all the ingredients and may try them soon, too. 

Somewhere... on a friend's blog but I forget WHO... I read about the book Well Preserved; a Jam-Making Hymnal.  I was able to buy it with Amazon credit in January and I've enjoyed reading through it SO much... highly recommended!  (It is out of print but there are a few used books on Amazon and I expect at the usual used book sites.)

What a lovely book, a combination of prose and recipes (I love those).  I'll definitely be trying a few of these recipes.  One of my culinary goals this year is to make my own jam and jellies again.  I don't purchase those in the store made with corn syrup and the others are quite expensive.

This book is a keeper!

More Christmas ponderings

I don't know what is different about this year but I'll be sorry to see the Season go.  I haven't felt this way in years.  I suppose it is because I've been enjoying such a quiet Christmas and my soul is full of beautiful things... books, music, decorations, pondering... that which leaves a richness behind and does not take away.

Circumstances (as you are well aware if you have been reading long) are more difficult this year than in the past.  Helping to organize the garage was my gift to my husband, the party was our present to our son, and I have an I.O.U. out to the New England Contingent.  We're still awaiting a promised annual financial gift from an elderly aunt which will be used to purchase the grandchildren a few gifts.

But it has still been a good Christmas season.  Expectations were replaced with a thankful heart for anything and everything, perhaps that is why it has been full.

Now... to answer a few questions from this past week's posts...

Lallee left a comment that what I thought were red and white dish cloths (in the bowl) were actually pot holders!  They're still going to be annual Christmas decorations.  :)

No, I didn't make the pot holders that are hanging, all three are vintage and aren't they cute?  I had purchased one at an antique mall long ago and a friend of mine gave me two others from her collection.

That adorable shortbread mold was purchased (brand new) at Goodwill  this past year.  I recently saw the exact same mold in the King Arthur flour catalog for around $36.00. 

This is my easy "go to" recipe for peppermint bark.  Just melt one package of white chocolate (I used the CandiQuick white dipping chocolate), pour onto wax paper, sprinkle crushed candy canes over all of it immediately, and press into the chocolate.

When hardened (I put it in the frig to hurry the process) just break into smaller pieces. 

By the way, I recently posted a new (to me) recipe for quick pumpkin muffins on my recipe blog.  I couldn't believe how good they were and all they call for is a package of yellow cake mix, pumpkin, and spices.  Although my sister and I both agreed they would be even better with chopped pecans!

Favorite Christmas recipes

Pretzel Candy

My favorite time of year to be in the kitchen is December when I'm baking and making candy gifts for friends and family. This year I won't be making as much but I'll choose a few favorites to have available. I will be picking from some of these...

Pretzel Candy... I made these (pictured above) for the first time last year and loved the recipe. It is tasty and easy to make. One of those great recipes for kids in the kitchen as older kids can spoon the white chocolate into the pretzel and small children place an M&M on top.

Rachel Ray's Fudge... This recipe was from one of her earlier 30 Minute shows. As soon as I tried this fudge, it became my Christmas "go to" recipe. So easy and everyone loves it!

Beverly Nye's Candy... The following recipes are all from my favorite Beverly Nye cookbook from the 1970s. Love her recipes! They are all easy and yummy. None of them require a candy thermometer.

• Peanut Butter Easter Eggs -- just shape them into a ball instead of an egg. :)
• Chocolate covered mints -- delicious minty flavor. Also, you can make the "filling" without dipping into chocolate for what we usually call "wedding mints". Just mold them in a candy mold for a pretty display.
• Homemade Mounds candy -- This one basic recipe can be made into all kinds of yummy candies by adding dried fruit, nuts, etc.

Raspberry Truffle Brownies - This is one of those over-the-top brownie recipes that is perfect for the Holidays. They are rich but everyone I know loves them.


Homemade Cocoa Mix - There are lots of recipes online for cocoa and other drink mixes. I made these for my husband's siblings last year. Part of the gift was the glass container, which was very inexpensive. The marshmallows and Christmas M&Ms are in jelly jars that I wash and put back to use for such gifts after the jelly has been used. They made the gift even more festive. :)


Christmas Jam - This is a great December jam to make when cranberries are available and the strawberries called for are frozen.

Of course, there are lots of cookie and cake recipes on my recipe blog, too. :)

Some favorite recipe links

I love to find good recipes so I thought I'd share both recipe links and favorite recipe sites today. Just so you know... I'm writing this ahead of time so I can work on the Recommendations list Monday. :)

Sally posted her favorite quiche recipe this week... here. I'm going to try it later this week.

Stephanie's yummy (and very British) Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe is near the end of this post. It would make a lovely Holiday dessert.

I actually liked it better cold the next day when she made it for all of us on our visit (I think because it tasted less sweet and since I can't eat a lot of sugar, I'm sensitive to the "very sweet" desserts). Regardless... this is delicious.

I've bookmarked two (long) posts at Old Fashioned Tips. One has lots of apple recipes and the other an amazing number of pumpkin recipes.

Apple recipes
Pumpkin recipes

Yum... I am old enough to remember when women collected recipes in their kitchens the way some people put money in the bank... one can never have too many good recipes to call upon (especially if they are easy to make from ingredients in the pantry).

My mother-in-law especially enjoyed the recipes that were the weekly winners in the Chicago Tribune. The Internet has replaced the newspaper in many ways and especially as a way to find great recipes. (We haven't had an actual Women's Pages section in the newspaper since I was a bride long ago.)

A few of my favorite recipe sites are...

The Pioneer Woman (nobody does it better)... I have her new cookbook on my Wish List! Just in case you are one of the few people on the planet who does not have Ree on your rss feed... you are missing a lot. The above link takes you to her cooking site.

Mennonite Girls Can Cook is another favorite. These ladies need to write a book, they are amazing. I have eighty-nine of their recipe posts saved on Bloglines.

The Cooks Next Door is a new recipe site but has already become a favorite. My friend, Heather, is one of the contributors.

I discovered Tea & Cookies on a link at a friend's blog. Contrary to what it sounds like, it is not a tea time blog. :) However, she has great recipes and I particularly like the way she cooks with fresh and seasonal ingredients.

Megans Cookin has lots of good recipes and a few I already have bookmarked to go back to this Holiday season... especially the cookies.

Of course, I could not forget Tracey's Frugal Luxuries Food site.

I reviewed Lynn's Queen of the Castle book a long time ago (and I still think it is one of the most practical homemaking books around). Her Queen of the Castle recipe blog is... here.

I know there are other recipe sites on my list of Favorites but this should give you some good ideas for the upcoming Season, which finds many of us in the kitchen.

Oh, and of course... there is my recipe blog which is much more an online cookbook. I have a few years worth of family favorite recipes there and I plan to add more soon. It can be found... here.

Added: Yes, if you have a favorite recipe site, do leave it in the comments. I know I'm always happy to find a new site. I peruse favorite decorating and recipe sites when I want to relax and I don't want to get caught up in a book right then. :)

The recipe for blond brownies

I added the blond brownies recipe over at my food blog... here. They are so easy to make, it makes them a great choice for teaching kids how to bake.

The recipe has been a family favorite since we received it from the young mom who was Stephanie's babysitter when she was in Kindergarten. My index card is written in her neat printing and now stained with over twenty years of butter and brown sugar. :)

I made them on Friday and threw a handful of those Kraft (?) caramel bits in the batter after adding a cup of the cinnamon chips. Would you believe there are only two pieces left? I'd say the guys enjoyed them very much.

A few comments on comments

Here are a few "comments" about recent comments and e-mails (I still have not been able to respond to e-mails but I should be able to soon).

I am planning another Warm and Cozy book recommendation in a couple of weeks. Be thinking again of any books and movies you can think of that have scenes of cozy times together... food, family time, friendships, needlework, children, gardening, reading, cozy room scenes... etc. Essentially good books of any genre that make us feel warm and cozy when we read them. :)

I am going to ask for your favorite biographies and autobiographies later in the season. The link to the original list of warm and cozy books is on the sidebar... the picture of the warm and cozy room.

Stephanie posted the recipe she is using for Sticky Toffee Pudding... here. She also has a new post about their England trip since this one but this contains that recipe that will be perfect for tea time. :)

Yes, I "see" all comments even if they are given on a very old post. This blog has moderated comments so I have to read them before they are published. I still receive all comments on the recipe blog via e-mail.

Thank you so much for all the feedback on the Julie and Julia movie. I am such a big fan of Julia Child and I'm looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out on DVD (right now seeing a film at the theater is not a budget option) and I'll disregard the small amount of "language".

I had heard that Julia did not like the book Julie and Julia at all and would never give it a recommendation. I hadn't heard she was upset about the bad language but it doesn't surprise me. I watched the PBS special over the weekend that showed two of the French Chef original shows (two of my favorites... her omelet show and her chicken show).

Those French Chef shows are wonderful for family viewing, they are so amusing at times that older kids will enjoy them while learning basic cooking technique. I used to watch them with Stephanie when she was a child. Both volume 1 and volume 2 are available through Amazon.

Yes... when I typed the directions for roasting zucchini and other summer squash, I forgot my oven bakes on the hotter side. I expect roasting it for 20 to 25 minutes is a good thing! Roasting is my favorite way to fix a lot of veggies.

Regarding coupons... I find a lot of good coupons in the Sunday newspaper. However, the best coupons are found online. I'll write more about that later but one suggestion is to go to the website of your favorite product manufacturers and see if they offer e-mail updates. Many of my $1.00 coupons come directly from the product pages.

And finally for today... below is a recipe for squash that Matty left on the comments. It looks yummy. Matty sent me the honey and soap from her "girls". :)

A squash casserole recipe to die for!

Take 4-5 med. size squash, slice lengthwise and remove seeds.

Parboil squash, sans seeds, until fork tender.

While the squash is boiling, mix:
1 c. chopped tomatoes
1/2 c. chopped onions

Stir fry in olive oil until onions are clear.

Take this mixture and combine with:

1/2 c. bread crumbs (I use Italian flavored)

1 c. grated cheddar cheese

Drain the squash; fill with mixture, sprinkle with basil, and bake for 15 minutes at 350.

Eat and be surprised that THIS IS SQUASH!

A student's mother gave me this recipe and we can't get enough of it!

Enjoy!

Matty

This and that

Stephanie called last night just before they boarded the plane to Europe. She was hoping they would sleep on the plane so they are not nodding off in the Bath tea room. Elizabeth (age 7) was fine until she it dawned on her they have never been separated this long. I told her they would be fine with Grandma and Grandpa to take care of them.

She bought a postcard at the airport to send them and wrote a note asking E. if they should go all around Bath looking for Mr. Darcy (or was it Captain Wentworth?). Sigh... I was tired. Anyhoo, these are the children who would pretend to go "into town" when they were little and "town" meant Bath instead of Boston or New York.

They will visit Bath, the Lake District, and will end up back in London. I don't know all they plan to visit but I do know they are making a special trip to the place that holds a lot of the Charlotte Mason materials.

Stephanie received an e-mail that a young woman who just finished her Doctorate (I think at Oxford) specializing in Charlotte Mason's work was going to be visiting at the same time and would she like them to set up a meeting... Yes!

Little did I know when I picked up a copy of Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's book, For the Children's Sake many years ago that it would be one of the most influential books of my life. I only purchased it because I loved Susan's first book called, How to Be Your Own Selfish Pig. I had just begun homeschooling and fell for Charlotte Mason's style with the proverbial "hook, line, and sinker". It fit both my style of teaching and the way a very ADHD child could learn.

Stephanie was in college at the time (she started her freshman year at the University the same day Christopher began Kindergarten in the public schools.... the timing being God's sense of humor). We started homeschooling our son in second grade after a nightmare first grade experience.

Sallie had commented about Saugatuck... yes, it is much different today. It is still beautiful but a favorite place to live and vacation for people who prefer alternate lifestyles. Holland and Grand Haven actually have more to offer families and one must visit all the tourist traps because they really are interesting and fun. (Although, we went to Saugatuck about four years ago and found visiting during the tourist season in the daytime not to be a problem.)

I had a question awhile back about how I make the glaze I add to make my coffee cake extra special. I like the glaze to be just slightly thinner than icing so it will look thick (rather than the thin glazes that are good when you want the dessert to absorb them).

I put about two tablespoons (or four if I feel rich) of room temperature butter in a bowl. Then I add about two cups of confectioners (icing) sugar and blend it together with a fork. Then I add milk about a tablespoon at a time until it is the consistency I want (thick but able to drizzle off of a fork). I have used water if I was low on milk but milk makes it richer.

Sometimes I add a very tiny amount of extract (lemon when using blueberries, orange with cranberries, almond with cherries) but you have to be very careful. I accidentally put in too much lemon extract the last time and it tasted bitter... yuk. That was only about a half a teaspoon and it was overwhelming. I forgot I was making the glaze rather than the batter.

This is also the icing recipe I use on cinnamon rolls except I'll start with more butter at room temperature (an entire stick if I can spare it), three to four cups of confectioners (icing) sugar (once again blending together with a fork before adding liquid), milk also added a tablespoon at a time... whipped together with the fork or a whisk. I make it thick enough to easily spread on the cinnamon rolls but not stiff as one would want for a cake. It's rich so too much can be overwhelming for some people.

I found the above way to make cinnamon roll icing in one of the Cooking From Quilt Country books sometime in the 1990s. It was the recipe used in a small Mennonite restaurant famous for their cinnamon rolls and tasted exactly like the icing I remember on a coffeecake my mother purchased from local farmers when I was a child. It's that high butter to sugar ratio that makes it different... not as sugary sweet as regular butter icing.

If I've put all that time into making cinnamon rolls or coffee cake... I want it to taste great. We don't have them that often. :)

Added: I didn't know the Follower's widgets were having issues. I hope they get it fixed. I have slowly been switching from Bloglines to Google Reader because of issues with Bloglines. Especially when one of my FAVORITE PEOPLE stopped showing up.

Recipes in lieu of lists

It is quite apparent I won't be able to finish the list of books and films until early next week. Just too much going on here at home this weekend. So, I'll lead you to some recipes instead. That's where my attention was this afternoon as I'm planning what I'm making for Mother's Day.

I like to make pies for dessert once the weather turns warmer. Well, it will turn warmer even though this is the coolest spring I can remember! I thought I'd direct you to some recipes over on my other blog, those that are good spring desserts.

I was pondering what to make for Mother's Day, which is why this post came about. I don't make desserts often (it would be too hard to resist as a Juvenile Diabetic) but I do enjoy making them for special occasions and if we have a Sunday dinner here at home.

One of my husband's favorite pies is rhubarb. I just took the time to post my favorite rhubarb pie recipe for you fellow rhubarb lovers. It is called Peoria Rhubarb Cream Pie (from Peoria, Illinois) and it is no fail yummy. I used to use a recipe from my sister's mother-in-law but it didn't always turn out right. This one is good every time, it can be found... here. I'll add a picture of this pie the next time I bake it.

I'm making a key lime pie this weekend. That recipe is... here. It's a great pantry recipe, which is why it is the star of the dessert show this weekend. I have a bottle of key lime juice in the pantry (needs to be refrigerated only after opening), one last graham cracker pie crust saved back, a can of sweetened condensed milk getting cold in the frig, and Cool Whip defrosting from the freezer.

I'll make key lime squares with leftover key lime juice (although the juice lasts for a long time in the refrigerator after being opened). That recipe is... here. I made these for Christopher's graduation open house last June and everyone raved about them. I love this recipe, it's a little like lemon bars but different enough to be special (don't tell them how easy they are). These make a good compliment to serve with another bar cookie (like brownies) when hosting a crowd... or a big family. :)

I have also used the leftover key lime juice where lemon juice is called for in a recipe with excellent results. For instance, I have used it in my lemon Jell-o cake recipe and I liked it even better than with just lemon juice... recipe here. This is also a great pantry recipe.

I find the Nellie & Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice in the juice aisle in most grocery stores. Unlike bottled lemon juice, this stuff is great. I realize key lime juice may not be available outside the USA, in that case just use the juice of limes!

Okay, enough high calorie ideas for now.

Sugar Cream Pie and other joys of Midwest Living

Stephanie told me a few years ago that she mentioned to someone in New England she was making a sugar cream pie and they asked what was in it. Her reply? "Ummm... sugar... and cream." :)

As with many old Midwest recipes, one realizes what we consider expensive these days (especially cream and butter) were quite ordinary to those on farms with milk cows. The frozen Wick's pies are made in Indiana but I've seen recipes for sugar cream pies in various Midwest and Amish cookbooks. They are much richer than an ordinary custard pie but not as tangy as a lemon chess pie.

A friend from the bookstore called this morning, asking if I could make an emergency dessert for her. She'd completely forgotten that she had signed up to bring a cake to a sports banquet tonight. I had the ingredients for a quick Chocolate Cherry Cake that I was able to make in between errands and drop off at the bookstore just before she left for the day. As I've said before, I consider baking a ministry and I was happy to help her.

Our economy here is interesting as we have two completely different sources of income for many people... no, make that three. Agriculture is okay so long as the weather holds out (we who live in farm lands are obsessed with weather). Manufacturing is in a terrible condition with another three hundred or more jobs lost just this past week in one of the plants. There are now thousands out of work from what I've heard. The University is going strong but one wonders what will happen in coming years.

The Mall is often packed when I drive by but I've noticed a lot more people shopping at Goodwill and the thrift shop.

I had to drive to the town close to us to run an errand for my husband. I decided to take the scenic route home since snow and ice were no longer an issue. All of nature seems to be waiting the coming of warm weather and the opportunity to bloom and blossom even if our view is winter without the snow.

I passed a ranch fairly close to home and slowed down to view the horses through the trees (one can only see them clearly in winter). Horses are among the most regal of all God's creation and these are particularly beautiful.

I had been listening to talk radio earlier but I decided for the sake of my mental health to switch to the NPR station and listen to classical music. Their selection at the time was a little too slow for my taste so I switched again to K-Love... that's more like it. K-Love is the Three Bears station in our family... to contemporary for my husband, not contemporary enough for my son... just right for Mama Bear. :)

Oh, before you ask. I have added recipes for Cousin Idell's sugar cream pie (Kentucky version), Chocolate Cherry Cake, and two Midwest sugar cream pies to the recipe blog... just click on the picture of the vintage kitchen & cook on the sidebar.

Baked Brie

This is the brie recipe I tried on Christmas Eve. I saw it on a TV show and it was so simple, I didn't have to pay to order the recipe.

This was absolutely delicious. It can be used as I did as an hor'dourve (we serve hor'dourves every Christmas Eve rather than a meal) or it can be a sweet way to end a meal.

Baked Brie

• 1 round of brie, white part cut off the top if desired (it is not necessary)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of brown sugar, to taste
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 or 3 T. cold butter (more if you use more brown sugar)
• pecans (optional if people do not like nuts) *

Crackers... I used small water crackers. Just about anything except saltines would work.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

If desired, slice a little of the white part of the brie off the top. It is completely edible, though. Place brie in a pie pan (they suggested Pyrex and that is what I used).

Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter together. Add about 1/4th cup of chopped pecans if desired. Press mixture into the brie and bake about 10 - 12 minutes, until mixture is bubbly.

When baking for the first time, check after about 8 minutes.

Serve with your favorite cracker or shortbread cookie by using a knife or a small spoon to place mixture on crackers.

*Since my son doesn't care for nuts, I sprinkled the nuts around the brie instead of in the brown sugar mixture. Then I served the roasted nuts in a small bowl along side the brie.

Obviously this is a recipe you can make your own by adding more or less of an item, use walnuts instead of pecans, etc. The person who was making the recipe said she uses it all the time when she has guests to her home.