apple time

It's apple time everywhere! I went with Gordon to pick at my friend's house on Sunday evening and today after the doctor visit(which went well), I decided to make baked apples for dessert! I love baked apples, I have made them with diet coke in the middle or diet root beer, apple pie spice with brown sugar and today, just plain old brown sugar! Have a great evening! blessings!

update

Well, I decided on the way home from church to update my website, so please let me know yea or nay! So many choices and I liked the one I had, but thought maybe people were tired of it??!!! Blessings!

Saturday

Today has been a busy day for me! I bought a box of Italian plums yesterday at work, so I got up way too early and started on them this morning, turning them into plum jam! Yum, that's good and so pretty! Next, I had put a chicken in the crockpot last night and I had that to deal with this morning. I asked Gordon what he would like from the chicken, soup or chicken and dumplings. He requested both and since he has been fighting a cold, I said okay to him, we will have both sometime this weekend! A ham is in the oven for supper! Have a great weekend! Blessings!

back

I've had a few of you ask me about my back, so here's the scoop! I've had issues with my back for 40 yrs after a few accidents! So, now with age(I hate that) and wear on my back, it's not good news! I had a MRI and x-rays 3

weeks ago, this is what it showed us, 3 "slipped disks" and some curving on the lower spine(age related), but the lower disk is pinching and pulling, so that's where the lower leg pain comes in to play and almost unbearable back pain lives! I told my pastor that "pain has become my evil friend." He had just preached on the book of James that talks about prayer and healing. He said that pain isolates the person in pain, how very true! Gordon knows when I have had enough, I become very quiet and withdrawn(which is not me). So, with saying that, I apologize to many of you when that happens! So, next week I will get a shot to see if I get some relief from all of this, I pray it does as I'm looking at surgery otherwise. Please don't tell me the horror stories(I've heard them all), but pray that God's will be done! Well, that's all from here today, today seems to be may be a good day, pain is okay this morning,scale of 0 to 10, pain is 6,YEAH! Sorry this isn't a happy or fun posting today! Blessings!

apple cke

Tomorrow night is our turn to host Bible study! We love our group, we are very good cooks, but most of these ladies are very great bakers! I an okay baker, I would like to be better, but I don't need to have the calories around the house! So, I have a bag of apples to do something with and remembered a recipe from smittenkitchen.com and thought I would give it a whirl, but my back and leg decided to act up and so I did what I could with the recipe! Recipe: 5 cortland apples, peeled and cut up, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of sugar, put the apples, sugar, and cinnamon in a separate bowl and put aside! Mix 3 large eggs, 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of orange juice and 3/4 cup of oil. Mix well and place in 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake at 350 for about 45-60 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. I plan to serve this with vanilla ice cream! Blessings!

broccoli cheese casserole

We have a party to attend tomorrow night and I needed to make a dish to pass, so I decided to make broccoli and rice/cheese casserole! I used wild rice as I still have 5 pounds left from the 40 pounds that someone gifted me about 2 yrs ago. Recipe is: 2 cans (plus one can of water) cream of chicken soup, 2 1/2 cups of grated cheese(I used Velveeta, not grated, but cubed), 3 cup of wild rice, and 2 16oz. packages of frozen broccoli thawed. Mix well and bake for 45 minutes at 350. I'm ready to party now, YEAH!!!!! Blessings!

bean dip

For Friday's demo, I made this Mexican bean dip. Recipe: 1-8oz package of cream cheese, 2 1/2 cups of shredded cheese, 2 Tablespoons of dry onion soup, 1 teaspoon of cilantro, 1 cup of sour cream, some dashes of hot sauce and 2 minced garlic cloves. I added to it yesterday to make it stretch a little farther was a 1 cup of salsa. It was very good! Blessings!

Beans

I love baked beans! I know some of you are secret lovers of beans, but not of the gas they may provide your body with at times! My friend, Lori, made beans 3 weeks ago for a gathering of friends and they were fantastic! So, I called her and asked for the recipe, by the way she really doesn't have a recipe, so here is what she said to do. Recipe: soak and cook some beans, drain the beans and add one can of tomatoes(diced, or crushed or whole) to the drained beans, one onion chopped(this is were it gets fuzzy), add some brown sugar(maybe 1/2 cup), some bacon(I'm thinking 3 slices cut up), and some molasses(you are on your own with this ingredient)!At this point, I put the beans in my crockpot and cooked them on low. Cook this for 1 - 1 1/2 days till beans are tender, tomatoes break down, the bacon and sugar have some together! They are excellent! Blessings!

potatoes

Gordon has been digging potatoes for the last month, a few at a time! They are so good. I never would have believed that there is a difference in homegrown and commerically grown, but there is! Homegrown has a much better taste, the potato seems clearly better tasting, maybe the soil or tender care??? We enjoy potatoes and I have come up with many ways to make "taters" such as oven fries with

Emerils seasoning, fried potatoes, chunked potatoes with butter and parsley, just to name a few. I saw on the 1st episode of the Pioneer Woman on food network, her recipe for mashed potatoes is almost over the top! They have cream and cream cheese in them, WOW!!!!! Blessings!

a day of remembering!

Today is a day to remember those who lost their life on 9/11. We will never forget what happened or where we were when we heard the news! I honor the families that have carried on during this time! I had just clocked in at my job when I heard the news, most of us where just numb to what happened! We honor and pray for the fallen! We honor those men and women who still fight for freedom! Blessings!

corn soup

Well, I am suppose to make corn soup according to the recipe in the Dorie Greenspan's cookbook "Around my French Table", but I didn't have all the ingredients and wasn't going to go back to work and pick them up! So, I made do with what I have on hand such as cream not milk, whole baby carrots not cut up carrots. So here is my recipe: 4 ears of corn cut off the cob, 1 pint of half and half, 1 cup of water, 2 very small onions, 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 sprigs of thyme, and 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper. Saute onion in oil , add corn and stir well. Add cream and water, salt, pepper to taste, and then add the jalapeno. Spicy, but nice! Blessings!

corn

Yesterday I bought 2 dozen ears of corn as Gordon's sweet corn amounted to 8 ears this year! He had plenty of plants, but not many ears and nothing coming before it freezes! So, with that in mind, I freezing some I bought from a friend and it's really good, thanks Pat!I stand my ears up on a cup(red) and use the electric knife to cut off the cob!

We will eat it fresh for a couple of meals!
I love putting corn in corn bread and making corn casserole, so that's on the menu this week! Have a great Labor Day and enjoy the rest of the weekend! Blessings!