African Violet Fever

Back in the 1970s I learned how to make new little violet plants from leaves and had a wonderful window bench that just loved my violets and so I grew dozens of them!  I had no idea at the the time that violets had names or actual descriptions in a database ,,, I just knew that I was thrilled to pieces when little tiny "mouse ears" appeared in the little leaves I had planted in the perfect California window seat...and they grew and flourished and flowered and all was right in my California world of flowers and veggies and tennis.

Then came the 80s and while still struggling to find my feet, I had tons of houseplants of all sorts ... but no violets.  I did live in a wonderful house in Westchester County, NY, but here most of growing was of the outside variety -- fruits and veggies with a few flowers thrown in for color, but no real opportunity for my orchids or violets. We did, however, have the MOST awesome vegetable garden I've ever known!  But how many tons of broccoli should a person really be exepcted to eat? lol!  Peter, you did an amazing job!


And moving onto the 90s, I had a huge house with it's own plant room and plant stands that should have been the envy of all who viewed! lol!!  I had wall to wall;/ ceiling to floor stands with lights and could grow anything!  So was born my vegetable garden and grow beds ( which I was so happy to share with my next door neighbor) as well as another opportunity to start my flats of
African Violet leaves.

Well, the garden was a huge success with lots of great veggies, but the violets had barely gotten seated and established when once again we were off to parts unknown ... and though some of my lovely colors remained, I lost a good number of them on the nove to Vermont.

With all that went between there and here, it matters not.  For today I have three new violet plants and along with my best friend cousin Kimberley, we'll start our new African Violet empire :) or at least we'll having some growing!!

LInda

Christmas Dinner 2010

I'm so excited to be having Christmas breakfast here in our new house with cousins and my aunt!  Then I'll be fixing dinner and we'll eat over at Cousin Kim's (she has the good Christmas china! hehehe)

Breakfast tomorrow: Mimosas with fresh squeezed Florida orange juice ... bacon, crispy and yummy, and the famous buttermilk pancakes that my Uncle Chris has made for over 50 years and the recipe is a family favorite!  And of course, Vermont maple syrup from one of my sugaring friends!

Dinner ... Prime rib roast --- just give me the bones and I'll be happy! lol!! with fresh horseradish sauce and freshly grated horseradish.  Then baked potatoes with sour cream and chives for those who want it -- for me, load that puppy with butter!!  Green beans with carmelized onions (introduced at Thanksgiving and appearing by request).

Green Beans with Carmelized Onions and Bacon

8 slices bacon chopped and cooked until crisp

2 large onions sliced thin and cooked in 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter, a bit of sale and coarse-ground pepper, covered for about 10 minutes until nice and tender, then remove the cover and continue cooking until the onions are golden in color -- like light caramel

1 1/2 - 2 lbs fresh green beans cooked in lightly salted water for about 8 minutes, until crisp tender

Drain the beans, add in the onions, 2 tablespoons water and a few tablespoons cider vinegar then stir in the crisp bacon.  Serve!!


Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is the most awesome carrot cake ever!  A friend made it for my 30th birthday, so it's been around the block a few times for me lol!!  It is NOT for anyone worrying about cholesterol, that's for sure!  And the cake did win a blue ribbon at the State Fair!

2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 beaten eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla estract
2 cups freshly grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple drained

Combine flour, soda, salt and cinnamon.  Combine eggs, oil, milk, sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Stir in flour mixture, pineapple, carrots and nuts (I add golden raisins instead of nuts).  Pour into 2 greased and floured 9" round pans and bake at 350 degrees 35-40 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately spread with buttermilk glaze.  Cool in pans 15 minutes then remove to racks to cool completely.

Buttermilk Glaze

1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon light Karo syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all except vanilla in pan and bring to boil for 4 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Pour HOT over HOT cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup soft butter
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons cream

Combine butter and cream cheese, beating until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and powdered sugar and crean.  Beat until smooth and spreadable.

I hope your dinner is as wonderful as ours -- and full of friends and family and good spirits!

What to do for Thanksgiving?

Do you do what your grandmother did? and then what your mother did?  What was it?  Do you have traditions passed down through generations?  And then you got married and did you incorporate your mother-in-law's traditions?  What makes Thanksgiving really special to you?  The cooking? the get-togethers? the sheer joy of eating good food?

We'll be spending this Thanksgiving in Sarasota, Florida, with family members and after a couple of years of just the two of us, we're really looking forward to it!  While down there last week, my cousins and I sort of planned the mean and divided some chores and I think it will be great!!

Besides the golden brown, crispy-breasted turkey in the 15-18 pound range, we have stuffing that is from my family from 1964 out of TV Guide no less!  Let me tell you this stuffing is so good you'll be spooning it into your mouth faster than you get it into the turkey!!  Here's the first recipe:

Turkey Stuffing that Might Not Make it Into the Bird ... this recipe is over 40 years old and for each of its 40 years since we have had it, it has been awesome!  So I wish you well if you try it :)  They call it an Apple Sausage Stuffing, Pennsylvania Dutch Style and here we go ...
1 pound sausage
1 cup diced bacon
1 large onion chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 pound mushrooms sliced
2 apples cored and diced
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon each sage and thyme (I usually up the sage as I love it(
1 pound loaf firm white bread cubes
2 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook sausage and bacon togeher, mushing sausage as it cooks.  When both are brown, add veggies (onions, celery, mushcooms, and apples) along with herbs (parsley, sage and thyme).  Cook for about 5 minutes until vegetables begin to wilt.  Season with salt and pepper and add bread cubes and chicken broth to moisten all.  Don't make it mushy, but don't make it too dry either!  Pour into a bowl to let cool before stuffing the bird.

This will fill about  a 10-12 bird, but we're going for a 15-18 lb bird so I might add some more stuff to his .... yummmmmmm.
Onward and upward ... let' s see what else we traditionally had at our Thanksgiving table -- mashed potatoes (like duh!!!), squash -- yummmm! In my adult years I have migrated toward a mixture of Butternut and Hubbard squashes, boiled and mashed.  Now, I admit that Butternut isn't that forbidding to deal with -- cute little gourd-like squash -- not to difficult to chop in slices and peal and get in the pot to boil.  But then we have the Hubbard squash -- wow! is that a challenge!  First time I faced that was up in Vermont and I was totally intimidated by this veggie!
... and rightfully so!  It really needs a "manly" hand and an axe to cut through the touch hide, but then it's all yours!  I generally leave the tough skin on and roast it in a pan with a lot of water until I can peel the flesh away easily.  Then it goes into the mixer with the butternut squash, a bit of butter, a bit of brown sugar, and a good couple of shakes of salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Ta Da ... ready for the table!

To move ... or not to move

That was the question when I headed south to Florida last week.  If I was able to find a wonderful place in a week, then we'd take it as an omen that the move would be a good thing ... if I didn't find a place, then "oh well", we'd stay where we are!  That took some of the pressure off the quest for a new home.  Would you believe that on day one we found the greatest house??!!!  Now, with my cousins vetting properties for me (and keeping me in some kind of control), we still spent another full day viewing apartments, townhouses and single family homes -- all in the pouring rain I might add!! -- and by the evening we were done and went back to house number !.

It's a 3 bedroom/2bath house with a huge Florida room (fits my longarm beautifully!!), a screened in lanai, split floor plan, great fenced in yard for the little Midge, and all around great!  Less than half a mile to one cousin and about two miles to another -- close to the Interstates and the quilt guild meetings -- and believe it or not, I can actually walk less than a mile to the closest quilt store!!

So who wants to come and pack my house with me? lol!!!  You can fondle all the fabric you want!!

One month away!

Regarding "Stress"

I do love Oprah's perspective on stress and how to handle it, or rather, how the body handles it ... I'm just so not there in terms of being coordinated with mind and body.  Right now all I feel is stress -- overwhelming at times, and then during other hours I believe that it can all be fixed!

It's now entering my favorite time of the year -- family holidays :)  That's the really good part and I'm having a great time shopping for family and friends.  The Internet has been the greatest invention for those of us who might not like to move with the crowds at the malls -- but you have to do it at least once during the season!  And if you live in a city that does the "tree lighting" and the streets of light, how could you pass them up??!!

We're heading south for Thanksgiving where we'll eat ourselves silly with family in Florida.  Fortunately, we like to cook and we love to eat, so we've already planned our menu.  The other side of this fun is that we're also planning to move to Florida two weeks after Thanksgiving ... so our plates are full of more than just the wonderful turkey and gravy!  But it's a good thing and I can't wait to be in a new house in Sarasota!

So, the first stressor on our list is a move ... a large one to Sarasota that we currently have planned for December 15.  The most wonderful part of the move is that we will be living within a half mile of family -- that's a good thing!  The hard part is packing up a four bedroom house and getting ready for the movers.  We've got about 30 boxes packed, and I have a weekly packing plan, so I hope you all will help me keep on track!!

National Guacamole Day!!

Yummmmm!!  I just made a batch the other day and ate a half bowl of it all by myself!!  It's good on everything!!  Maybe I'll make some shrimp nachos today!

One avocado ... two cloves of garlic ... half a red onion ... lemon and lime juice, salt and pepper, tobasco and mayonnaise.  Toss it all in a blender or food processor and you're ready to dive in!  Some folks add chunky tomatoes to it ... others like some avocado chunks ... blend to please yourself!!

Perfect Warm Weather Dinner

I've never been a big fan of shrimp salad, but when I watched a recent Cook's video on cooking the shrimp properly, I thought I'd give it a try with some fresh North Carolina shrimp -- and I'm so glad I did!!  These little morsels came out so tender and full of flavor that it's my newest addiction!!  I've been cooking up a batch every few days and munching on them whenever I feel the urge!

Everything started in cold water with some lemon juice, parsley and tarragon, salt and pepper.  Then I heat the pan on medium high for about 8 or 9 minutes.  Remove from the heat and cover for a couple of minutes.  When you peek in the shrimp should be pink and plump.  Toss them right away into ice water to stop the cooking!

The salad is made with mayonnaise, lemon juice, minced shallot, minced celery (I don't like biting into big chunks of veggies in my salads ), chopped parsley and tarragon, a bit of hot sauce for a kick and salt and pepper.  I do throw in my favorite "Salad Supreme" all purpose seasoning because I love the taste.  So my dinner was with fruit and salad and Howard made a sandwich.  Yummmmmmm ...