Reflections of 2015

I always sit and reflect on the year as it comes to a close.  Last year, for the first time, I decided to pick out my favorite day of the year.   It wasn't hard last year because it was a day that I spent with my sister.  It's sad to say but we have never really been very close.  Other than our connection as family, we don't have a lot in common.  We spent the whole day together.  We went to our cousin's funeral in Stillwell, Oklahoma, came back by our family's cabin at a nearby lake and drove around and remembered such wonderful moments in our lives and we laughed and as always I cried some, the memories were just too dear.  We decided to stop and have dinner in one of Oklahoma's quaint little towns on our way home.   You know the type main street USA, family owned, serving up chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, big homemade rolls and homemade pies that have meringue three inches thick.  Down home southern cookin! It was wonderful.  We made it home as the sun was setting.  This is one of those memory making events that was not planned it just unfolded one good and meaningful thing after another. It was a special day for me with her because I don't have a lot, so I will always cherish it.

Now, for 2015.  This one is easy but I have 2 occasions not one day.   The first one, my daughter took me on a trip to California, to the dessert.  My first experience to see and be in the dessert.  We were at a facility that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and the plants and trees were so different yet beautiful and the fragrance was amazing.  I couldn't believe that something so bare with just a few flowers could smell that wonderful. Wonderful food! Best fish tacos I've ever eaten.  It was a very spiritual and enlightening time and I got to share it with my very sweet daughter.  We came home and three weeks later................

The other major memory maker was the birth of our precious grandson!  The memory that is etched in my brain is when the baby was handed to our daughter she immediately put him close to her face and kissed him.  It doesn't get any sweeter than that.  I almost felt like I was having an out of the body experience all day.  I could hardly believe that we had a grandchild.  I would just stare at him and then her.  It was a day of heart felt thankfulness and gratitude.

I hope this year that I have made your life a little richer. I hope you have got some good ideas for your home, some good recipes that you have enjoyed, information that you have found helpful and some encouragement to press on to be all that you can be. 

May the new year bring love into our hearts for each other that will change the world!

Always much love to you and a most happy new year.
galatha

Jalapeno Cheese Bites

Our daughter first made these this summer and they were a big hit with the men folk in our family.  You can regulate the heat by the amount of seeds you leave in the peppers but with an ice cold beer these are a hit!

You can use any amount of jalapenos you want but be sure to wear rubber gloves.  Wash off the peppers and pat them dry.  Then cut them in half and remove the membrane and seeds unless you like them hot and want to leave some of the seeds. Just use a spoon to scrape out the seeds.

For about 24 peppers, that would be 12 cut in half.  Use about 4 ounces of cream cheese and 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese and mix well.  Fry about 8 pieces of bacon and crumble into the cheese mixture and mix well.  Then stuff the cheese mixture into the pepper.  Put peppers on a baking sheet and broil until the cheese has melted. 

You can make these ahead and put in a freezer zip lock bag and freeze them after they have been stuffed with the cheese.  Take them out the freezer the day you plan on serving them to thaw. Then broil and serve.

Roast Beef Sliders with Mustard Mayo Horseradish Spread

Several years ago, a dear friend and I were hosting a wedding shower and she was telling me about these rolls and that she always makes little sandwiches out of them and how wonderful they are.  I was not impressed when she first told me about the rolls.  I had seen them at the store and had never bought them because they looked like some brown and serve roll.  She made ham and cheese sandwiches for the shower and they were wonderful.  The roll has a little bit of a sweetness to it.  They are called Hawaiian Rolls (I think that's it).  It's Hawaiian something? You can find them in the bread section at the grocery store.  They also have whole wheat.

This little sandwich was also a big hit.  I bought a chuck roast.  I always run water over most meat except hamburger to clean it up.  (mental thing, I know)  I laid the roast on a couple of pieces of heavy duty aluminum foil (I crunch the edges together) and I put salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste and one package of onion soup mix. Then I bring the edges of the foil together and fold them up over the roast and form sort of a large pocket.  I leave open one end and I put in several cups of water and then fold up that end and bake at 350 degrees for about 2-3 hours depending on the size of the roast.  Let the roast cool a bit before removing it from the foil.  I put it on a plate and use a fork to pull the meat apart into small pieces for the sandwiches.

Mustard Mayo Horseradish Spread
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 heaping tablespoons of horseradish
1/8 teaspoon salt
Whisk together in bowl and serve at room temperature.

To assemble, cut roll in half put the spread on each side of the roll and stack in your pieces of chuck roast cover with top of roll and secure with a toothpick and olive or whatever garnish you would choose.

We had left overs the next day and they were actually still really great. I kept them in the frig covered in an air tight container.

Also, I saved the juices from the roast to make French onion soup this week.  You can keep this beef broth in a container in the freezer until you are ready to use it.  This makes wonderful French onion soup.

Crab Roll Ups

We have made these roll ups for at least 30 years.  When our daughters were teenagers this was something they would make and take to parties and they still do.  These seem to always be a hit.  They are easy to make and can be made a day ahead and kept in the frig. covered in plastic wrap.

1 package of large flour tortillas

Mix together:
2-8 ounce packages of cream cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise

Stir into the above mixture and mix well:
2 bunches chopped green onions
1/2 cup chopped red or green bell pepper (sometimes I use 1/2 cup of both for holidays)
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup (5 ounce) can crab meat (personally, I think it taste better with 2 cans)

Use a serving spoon and spread a couple of spoonfuls onto a tortilla and spread to the edge.  Then roll up the tortilla and cut into bite size pieces.

Stay safe and warm today!  xo

We The People

This is from Oklahoma State  https://www.youtube.com/embed/JVAhr4hZDJE   6 million hits in 4 days.

Pan-Fried Onion Dip

 

After the movie on Christmas eve, our kids came home and spent the night.  We had already discussed having finger foods the next day.  It would be a day to relax and graze.  I have to laugh because it took us until noon to get the food prepared but we did relax and graze :( the rest of the day.  I think I slept off and on for three hours between conversations.   It was great and I felt rested and I didn't start falling asleep at 7:30 or 8:00 like I normally do.  I was actually up until 11:00 p.m.

In the next several days, I'll post some of the finger foods we made.  Some old family favorites and some new that were really a big hit.  This Pan-Fried Onion Dip was the biggest hit with the family.  This is a recipe by the Barefoot Contessa and it is excellent as all of her recipes are.

Onion dip is synonymous with sleep overs for me.  When I was growing up at sleep overs with friends, we always had onion dip and potato chips.  I still love it.  I can't tell you the last time I've had onion dip,  but when I saw Ina's presentation, I've been hungry for it ever since.

If you are having a New Year's get together and you like onions you will want to try this.  You cook the onions until they are golden brown and the sweetness in the onions come out and it is better than delicious!

2 large yellow onions
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup veggie oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup good mayonnaise

Cut onion in half and then slice them into 1/8 inch thick half rounds.  You will have about 3 cups of onions.  Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions, cayenne, salt and pepper and saute 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook stirring occasionally for 20 minutes or until onions are browned and caramelized.  Allow onions to cool.

Place cream cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise in an electric mixer.  Mix until combined well.  Stir in cooled onions and mix well.  Taste for seasoning and serve at room temperature.

Our Little Yoda - Star Wars Night

Our tradition on Christmas eve is a movie and dinner.  Of course, it was Star Wars last night.  We all loved it.  Dutch slept at first, the noise was a little much for him but he watched the remainder of it when he woke up. Would love to know what he thought.

It was a great time with family and we all enjoy having this sweet little guy in our family and watching him experience life.

Indian Tacos

All of the family was down yesterday for Sunday dinner.  I had been promising them Indian tacos since October and I final came through on my promise.  They were delicious and we all decided we had to have these more often.  It has been years since I made these.


The dough is easy and it cooks in a flash.  I have an easy chili recipe that I'll post.  Then it's just chopped ice berg lettuce, chopped purple onion, diced tomatoes, and shredded cheddar cheese.  Other toppers I chose to use were sliced jalapenos and salsa.  You could also use sour cream if you liked.

Just a tid bit of information, there is a National Indian Taco Championship festival held in Pawhuska, Oklahoma on the first Saturday of October every year.  It would be fun to go and eat your way through that one.  :)

Also, this dough is wonderful as a sweet treat; drizzled with honey, dusted with powdered sugar, or sprinkled with blended cinnamon and sugar.  

Chili
2 pounds hamburger
1 package Williams Chili Seasoning
1 large can tomato juice
1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes
2 cans (15 oz.) pinto beans,

Place hamburger in Dutch oven and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Fry hamburger until browned and drain off all grease. Then pour seasoning packet over hamburger and stir until thoroughly coated.  Now add diced tomatoes, pinto beans (do not drain) and tomato juice.  Stir thoroughly and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes without a lid. I have a chili recipe that is a lot of work but this makes a wonderful chili and is a lot less work.

Fry Bread
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon powdered milk
1 tablespoon butter
11/2 cups warm water

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and milk in a large mixing bowl and then cut in butter. Don't pour in all the water at once, mix in a little at a time until the dough is soft and pulls away from the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and keep in frig until ready to use and this dough will keep in the frig for several days.

In a heavy skillet (preferably) cast iron heat oil to 375 degrees.

Roll out dough in 6 (1/4 to 3/8 inch thick) rounds.  Slide into hot oil. Puncture once or twice.  Fry until golden brown.  Fry on both sides and then drain on paper towels.

It is best to get your dough all rolled out and ready to go into the hot grease.  I was rolling out as one was cooking and that is not the best way to do it.  Your grease really gets hot and you want to be on top of it.

More Arrangements with Fruit and Vegetables

Sorry about this.  The little thing to turn the picture didn't come up. :(

I love these colors and this would be beautiful in summer or winter. There is eggplant, purple cabbage, artichokes, grapes and then the flowers.  Just lovely.

Memories and Family

I spent most of the day yesterday going through books in our library.  I have many new ones I want to put on the shelves and there is no more room.  Books are a hard thing for me to part with but I had some that I knew I was ready to let go of.  I hate to say this but dust was literally an inch thick as I got on the top shelf and back in the corners.  It has turned into a big project that is going to take several days to finish, but it will be a big accomplishment and one I will be glad to have complete. 

One of the reasons, I think it takes so long, is I start going through books I hadn't look at in a long time and before I know it I'm reading the book again.  At one point Gary stepped in and said, "you are never going to finish this if you don't stop reading every book you look at."  Books are special, I think they say a lot about a person.  I've tried to write a short note on the inside of each book I read.  The date I read it and what I thought of the book.  I think, I read that John Adams did that and I thought that was a great idea.

I've said all this to get to this point, I started thumbing through a book by Edith Schaeffer, What is a Family?  It is so good and there are some things I wanted to say about it that touches my heart.  First of all, buy it and read it, it's really good.  The family today is in need of repair and inspiration and she does a wonderful job of doing that.

As I looked at the chapter titles, my eyes fell upon A Museum of Memories.  Of course, I had to go there because I've always felt like the greatest gifts I can give my children are wonderful memories.  As I read this chapter, Edith Schaeffer does too.  These are her thoughts:

"What is a family meant to be?  Among other things, I personally have always felt it is meant to be a museum of memories - collections of carefully preserved memories and a realization that day-by-day memories are being chosen for our museum.  Someone in the family - one who is happily making it his or her career, or both parents, perhaps a grandparent or two, aunts and uncles, older brothers and sisters - at least one person needs to be conscious that memories are important and the time can be made to have double value by recognizing that what is done today will be tomorrow's memory.

Memories (not all of them, but some of them) should be planned with the same careful kind of planning one would give to designing a museum.  A family life in retrospect should be a museum of diverse and greatly varied memories, with a unity that makes the grouping of people involved share at least many if not all of the overlapping memories. "

Memory! What a gift from God.  From the smell of the seasons, holidays, foods, music, the feel of fabrics, these things and many more have memories attached to them that can evoke different feelings in us. Some we remember and enjoy reliving and others we choose to forget.

As I get older, sometimes I have the thought, oh I'm not going to do that this year or we can get by with just doing this and on the other side of the coin, the young mother thinks, I'm too tired, my children won't realize it if I do that.  Whether you are young or older :), remember that your children will remember whether they verbalize it or not and ALWAYS push yourself to do your very best and go the extra mile from the most insignificant to the most outstanding memory making event.

At Thanksgiving this year, my daughter walked up to me on Thanksgiving day and said, Mom, everything looks beautiful but you shouldn't have done all this, this is so much work.  I told her, "yes, it is a lot of work but I want to do this for all of you because someday this will be a beautiful memory for you."

Truthfully, this year I was physically tired.  A lot has been going on in our family and I had thought about just getting by.  Putting a couple of pumpkins in the middle of the table and calling it good.  I'm so glad I didn't.  That evening, I thought to myself as tired as I am, I'm so glad I went the extra mile and fixed things where everything looked pretty. 

When you are my age and you are living out your last quarter there is a satisfaction and peace in knowing that you have always given your best!

Decorating with Fruit and Vegetables

I loved this idea. They used pears but you could use red and green apples or the dark red pears with the golden pears, pomegranates, grapefruit and oranges or avocadoes and heirloom tomatoes (their different shapes and colors) would be gorgeous.  I'm very attracted to arrangements that are made with vegetables, fruit, flowers, nuts and berries.  The simplicity and natural beauty of nature is lovely.

 They used an ice pick to make a small hole in the pear.  You would gage the size of the hole to the amount of flowers you would be putting in the hole.  The juice from the fruit keeps the flowers fresh.  As you can see from the caption, they call these the $10.00 tiny wonders.  Actually, I think you can make them cheaper than that.  A bouquet of flowers at Wal-Mart is about four dollars and I've seen roses at Aldi for three or four dollars.  Last spring for a dinner, I used my lilacs and bought pink roses from Wal-Mart and it made a beautiful arrangement.

I can see these little arrangements on a dessert table placed by different desserts.  As the picture shows, have some fruit sitting up right and some on their side. This time of the year, a huge pine cone with evergreen, some pomegranates with berries and small white roses.  Let your imagination go and you can come up with some wonderful ideas that will look marvelous and be very cost effective.

Touches of Winter at Our Home

New Table

This is a table my daughter bought at a garage sale.  She decided she didn't want it and I brought it home and put it in our pole barn.  It has been subjected to the weather for several years and it has this wonderful patina now that I love.  I think it goes great with the furniture in this room.    We had some old glass shelves and I took the table and one of the shelves to a glass company and they cut the glass to fit the table.  I love the way it turned out.  I need to find a lamp for this table now.

Darling Dutch

                           Our grandson..........6 months old, already!

Parsnip-Potato Soup

I have found a new vegetable that I love......parsnips.  Not that parsnips are new, but I have never used them in cooking before nor do I remember ever eating them.  The parsnips have the most wonderful smell.  After I had cut up all the vegetables for this soup, before I started cooking it the smells were wonderful.  The garlic oniony smell of the leeks along with the parsnips and the fresh thyme plus the fresh garlic, it smelled wonderful.  I couldn't wait to cook it and have a taste.  I thought it had a wonderful flavor and it will definitely be a soup I will make a lot.  It will be a soup I make for my daughters and my dear friends who come for lunch.  The men in our family didn't find it as delectable as I did. :) Surprise! Surprise!

This soup is like a yellow squash soup that I make, you can make this and leave out the cream and freeze it.  Unthaw it, put it in a pan on low heat to warm and then add the heavy cream.  I love having soups like this in the freezer already prepared.

3 tablespoons of butter
4 fresh thyme sprigs
kitchen string
5 cups (11/2 pounds) peeled and thinly sliced parsnips
3 leeks, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
1 russet potato, peeled and diced, (I used two potatoes because they were small)
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 heavy cream
garnishes: dollop sour cream, fresh chives, olive oil

Melt butter in a medium Dutch oven over medium heat.  Tie thyme sprigs together with kitchen string.  Add parsnips, next 6 ingredients, and thyme to Dutch oven and cook, stirring often, 10 minutes.  Stir in broth and 2 cups water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low and cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Discard thyme.  Process parsnip mixture, in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth, scrape down sides as needed.  Return mixture to Dutch oven and stir in heavy cream.

Cook mixture over medium heat, stirring often, 5 minutes or until hot.  Serve immediately

Spinach

This is the spinach I picked yesterday from my little patch out of my back door. I have a flower bed next to my house.  It's on the southeast side of our home.  It gets the sun until about 3:00 p.m.  The spinach has done quite well there.  I wanted you to see how green it is.  I picked it and let it soak in cold water for about an hour or so.  All the dirt falls to the bottom of the container.  I then take the spinach and put it in a salad spinner to get the excess water off and then into a plastic bag. 

This is great sauted with a little fresh garlic, I use it to juice, I love spinach salad and today I'm making a grilled chicken fettucini with spinach. 

This is so easy to grow.  I didn't get it planted until the end of September.  You could even plant this in a container garden on your patio.  Anything that you can grow yourself is so much healthier than what you buy at the store.  Every little thing you can do helps your health and helps you to feel productive.  I order my spinach from Johnny's Seeds in Maine.  They have great seeds, organic and non organic.  I always get the smooth leaf spinach.  For spinach in the spring, you can plant mid March.  It will grow until the temperature gets in the 80's.

Just a reminder - find ways to be a producer!

Truth Regarding Paris Attack

I would be called a conspiracy theorist but in reality it's not theory this is what is actually happening to humanity and the world.  We are led to believe lies through the media.  The media does not bring the truth, so I was so thrilled to see this journalist being able to tell the truth about the Paris attack. It is amazing that he was allowed to say what he said.



If you don't believe what he is saying, please research this and find out the truth for your self.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D-9_LFPN7g

Cleaning Silk Flowers

As I was cleaning house over the weekend, one dirty spot led to another and I ended up cleaning my silk greenery and some of my silk flowers. :(  Just dusting them off was not doing the trick.  So I ended up putting them in the sink and washing the dust off, shaking off the excess water, then putting them in a king size pillow case, tying string around the open end to secure it.  I then put it in the dryer on air dry for 15 minutes and it all looked like new. 

Some of you may have already figured this out but it was a welcomed discovery for me.

These were flowers that were in bush form not individual stem flowers.  Some of the stem flowers have a substance to keep them stiff.  If you did this they may flop and not stand erect.

Wonderful Arugula Salad

This was dinner one night last week.  This arugula salad is easy and so delicious.  The recipe is from a dear friend who is a wonderful cook and she has an eye for good recipes.  I love exchanging recipes with her.  If you try this, I'm sure it will become one of your favorites.

3-4 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
the juice of 1/2 to l whole lemon
dash of Worcestershire
3-6 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1/4 - 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
5 tablespoons of olive oil
Toasted pine nuts

In a blender add garlic cloves and 1/4 cup olive oil and blend until garlic is liquefied.   In a bowl whisk together next five ingredients then add the garlic and olive oil.  From this point add the extra olive oil until it has the consistency of salad dressing. Toss the arugula with dressing and add toasted pine nuts.

We were at a meeting together and my friend gave me the recipe off the top of her head.  So, these measurements are pretty close but you can adjust a little according to your taste.

The arugula is easy to grow.  There are so many wonderful salad recipes now using arugula you might want to try growing it.  This fall I planted spinach in a flower bed next to my house and it is doing wonderful.  I'm still getting spinach and it is the darkest green and so tender.  I hope it will make it through the winter.

Christmas Cactus

My Christmas cactus is full of blooms.

 My husband is gone this weekend visiting a dear friend and I have the whole weekend to myself.  I love him dearly but I love my time alone.  I don't get it very often but it is something I really enjoy.  I realize its not for everyone, I know there are people who don't like to be alone.

It's weird, I know, but I love cleaning house and decorating when I'm alone.  I've had a very leisurely day.  Got up and read for a while, then put the T.V. on my favorite gardening, remolding and cooking shows.  Watched those as I was doing my thing.  Great day!  I'll be ready to see Gary when he gets home tomorrow evening.  :)

My Husband's Birthday

Yesterday was my husband's birthday.  This was the quote for the day on my flip calendar, "Good company on a journey makes the way seem shorter."

Things were so hectic yesterday that I didn't see this.  But this morning, I saw it and thought how true.  It made me think of my wonderful husband and this journey of life that we have been on together.  I'm so thankful he has been my partner in this journey of life.  Believe me, we have made lots of mistakes and we didn't do everything right but as I have told my children,"every one has issues and everyone makes mistakes but the important thing is that you learn from your mistakes and that you do your work to change your issues." The work to change the undesirable part of ourselves is not easy and it is the hardest work we have ever done.  I don't want to sound like we are finished or that we have arrived because we haven't but we work everyday on becoming the best we can be.  My traveling partner has never abandoned me along the way when he saw my ugly!  We have learned to be very patient with each other.

Because of his good company the journey has been exciting, tolerable, meaningful, sweeter and full of revelations.  As for shorter, the years have flown by.  I can say truthfully, that I look to the future and smile!

Song of Our Heart

This is a story written by N'Shama Sterling.  I loved this story I wanted to share it with you.

When a woman in a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness with a few friends and together they pray and meditate until they hear the song of the child.  They recognize that every soul has its own vibration that expresses its unique flavor and purpose.  When the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud.  They then return to the tribe and teach the song of the child to the village.
When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child's song to him or her.  Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child's song.  When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people would again come together and sing.  At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song.  Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person's bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life.
In this African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child.  If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community form a circle around them.  They sing their song to them.  The tribe recognized that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is love and the remembrance of your true identity.  When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.

In the book of Sound Therapy it says, "The human being is therefore likened to a very complex, unique, and finely-tuned musical instrument.  Every atom, molecule, cell, tissue and organ of the body continually broadcasts the frequencies of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual life.  The human voice is an indicator of its body's health on all these levels of existence.  It establishes a relationship between the individual and the wondrous network of vibrations that is the cosmos."

This is in my favorite devotional book and I've always loved it! 
When their heartstrings were stretched upon some cross of pain and the winds of persecution blew through them, then from this human Eolian harp men heard the very music of God.  They did not bear pain, they used it.