My it has been such a busy time!!! Michelle finally had that birthday we have been talking about since last November 23 - the day after the last one!! ha. Then on Wednesday I took one of my last few vacation days for 2010 and cooked. It was so wonderful - being alone in my kitchen - (well except for the 3 wonderful little schnauzers that kept checking to see if I had dropped something on the floor or they could talk me out of!) with total silence - no radio, no TV - just me and my pots and pans!!! OF course, sometimes when I got a pan out - several others complained and it was quite loud then!! Cooked for friends that needed help and loved it!! Today I cooked for my family - and really loved that too! That was one big bird and one big pan of dressing!!! Pies weren't shabby either!!! Then Travis got to say the blessing with chimes going off that made us feel like we might have been in the bell tower!! Ha. My brother-in-law has over 100 clocks in his house and they starte their chimes just as T started praying! Sounded really neat!!! The dressing was really good and my Mom really bragged on it and said it was some of the best she had ever eaten! Must have been really hungry - because the cornbread in it was made from Jiffy (and she always said she doesn't like sweet cornbread in the dressing) - and it had 3 minced garlic cloves (and she doesn't like anything with garlic) and several dashes of cayenne - hmmmm!!!!
As I cooked yesterday and today - I thought of things that have changed - at least for me that is!! You've all probably heard the story about grandma and how she always cut off the end of a roast before she put it in the pot. Then her daughter did the same thing - without questioning "why!" Her daughter saw this and was curious and finally asked her Mom why did cut off the end of the roast before she put it in the pot! Her Mom said, "Why that is what Momma always did!" Not satisfied the curious daughter went to Grandma and asked her the same question, to which Grandma replied, "Because the roast was too big for my pot!! Well, I always watched my Mom peel and apple and for so many years thought an apple had to be peeled - going round and round the apple - trying to not let the peel break until the apple was completely cleaned. Duh - do you know I finally thought "there has to be a faster way!" There is!!! Cut it in half, then cut each half in half. Then you can peel the quarters in about 2 to 3 swipes -- done!!!! Then today I was chopping up green onions for my dressing and taking each one and holding it against my thumb and cutting, cutting, cutting - just like I had always seen my Mom do! My thumb was really getting sore - being almost chopped each time I cut. So thinking - there must be a better way - I got out the cutting board, and after cleaning the onions, laid three to four down at a time, and went up that onion - chopping away - and it was faster, and thumb was saved!!!
Yesterday - I found out why they invented Brown Sugar. Travis had made the remark that his Mom used to make the best Caramel Pies. Well, was that a challenge or what? I called my Mom and asked her how to make them. She said it had been so long she wasn't sure. Together we pretty well put it together. It is a cream pie with a meringue - and all of the recipes in cookbooks say use brown sugar -- but Travis' Mom and mine were making that pie before the discovery of brown sugar. You actually take white sugar - a little over a cup (1-1/4 cup) sugar and put it in a heavy iron skillet and melt the sugar and let it caramelize until desired darkness. Well I started it off really low heat and that just doesn't work -- heat has to be really hot to melt sugar. When I finally figured that out some of it had turned into hard little crystals - but after most of it finally did melt, I added 1/4 cup butter (remember I am making it up as I go!) and then I added flour. Then I had caramel candy. I just know - add a little vanilla and I could have made the little caramel candies - you know the ones wrapped in individual wraps! Then I added my milk and eggs (3 eggs and 2 cups of milk) and teaspoon of vanilla. Looked like a pie to me so I put it in the baked pie shell -- topped it with meringue and there we had the "Old Fashion Caramel Pie." By the time Travis got home - the meringue had split open and the pie had turned syrupy! It had a great taste - but Travis would have had to go out and buy me something with diamonds to get me to do that again. It took over an hour -- next time I will choose one of the recipes that calls for BROWN SUGAR!!!!!
Well - between me hitting the key that turns off the internet (I wish there was a way to turn that little buddy off) and some problems with Blogger - I am lucky to get this posted. I am going to get off before it is all wiped away -- although I did copy it and save it to Word!!!
Have a blessed evening -- hope you gave thanks for this wonderful country we live in and the blessings we all enjoy! This weekend take the opportunity to do something good for someone else. IT FEELS GOOD!!!
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