BEN HUR BY LEW WALLACE

I finally finished this 1st book for the Baby Steps Challenge (over at the Nattie Challange) onWednesday evening. I am so glad that I stuck with it! It was very good. I really enjoyed the story. There were a few places that I got kind of bogged down in, but I think that was mostly in the beginning. Maybe to me it was a slow start. I also had a few things ‘going against me’. My book was 432 pages of very small print. So it seemed like my progress was slower than molasses going uphill on a cold day. I had 4 or 5 different times where family members were hospitalized. We just generally had super busy times, so that there were even a few weeks in a row that I wasn’t able to read even a chapter. Even though one evening I picked up my copy of Christy & got started on it, I never did give up on Ben Hur. I am so thankful I put Christy down & kept at this one going. I really did enjoy it. I rolled my eyes at the King James English being spoken by 1st century Jews & Romans…..but I got over it. lol I even cried a few times. The first time I cried was when the story finds Judah Ben-Hur’s beloved mother & sister. And I WEPT when Amrah, the family servant, saw them for the first time. It brings chills to my arms now to even think on it! And I was so angry at Judah’s love interest….I wanted to reach thru the pages & give him a V-8 smack on the forhead! I cried when two lepers called out for Jesus as He passed them on the road leading into Jerusalem. They called out to Him, "O Master, Master! Thou seest our need: thou canst make us clean. Have mercy upon us-mercy!"
"Believest thou I am able to do this?" He asked.
"Thou art He of whom the prophets spake- thou art the Messiah!" she replied.
"Woman," He said, "great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
I mean I WEPT!
And I cried as Jesus was nailed to the cross.
And I even cried when Belthasar, one of the wise men from the beginning of the story, knelt at the foot of the cross.
There was one more thing about this book that I’ll remember: the author actually speaks to you, he calls you Reader. Lol For example: "O Reader, you may remember from the previous chapter that…." The first time or two it did get on my nerves a bit. But it didn’t take long to endear me to it. By late in the book, I would smile when he’d do that.
I will probably go back and read this again in a few years.
I gave it 4 stars over at goodreads.com, only because there were a few slow parts for me. But, this is a classic, & I’ve given lesser literature 5 stars, so I think I may be going over and changing that.
It’s a great bookthat took me weeks & weeks to read it. But it sure was worth it!
If I ever do get over to the Lew Wallace Study Museum, I’ll be sure to take some pictures.

STROGIE HOAGIE

1st off- I can't figure out how to spell hoagie. LOL

Basically, this is beef stroganoff on a bun, without the noodles. And it is GOOD.

I saw it on Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals last month. All through the show she called it "Strogie Hoagie", but on her site, the recipe on-line is called" Sliced Steak Stroganoff in French Bread". I only made a few changes to her recipe that is found here. Instead of using baguettes, I just used deli style buns & I buttered them & toasted them in the oven. I also added a splash or so of worcestershire sauce & a can of drained mushrooms. And I didn't use watercress.
Here it is cooking in my big cast iron skillet:

And here it is on the plate, served with a simple tomato & cucumber salad.

How did this taste?
As Rachel Ray would say...YUMM-O!
(be sure to have plenty of napkins!)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Turkey (or Chicken) Casserole

I remembered that I have a lot going on tomorrow, so I thought I should put this recipe on here today, or I might not get to it tomorrow.

This recipe has no noodles, it's more of a dressing type of casserole.

As you can see in the picture, I had to make this in my oldest pie pan! I had used up all my 8x8 pans & all my deep dish pie pans for the casseroles I was freezing. I do line the pans with saran wrap so I can lift the froozen casserole out, then wrap more securely in foil & store them in the freezer that way so that my pans aren't in use in the freezer when I need them. But still, they hadn't frozen solid enough yet by last evening to take them out (I like to freeze them for at least 24 hours before removing them from the pan). So I was down to my oldest pie pan. lol

Turkey (or chicken) Casserole

Mix:

1 C. milk

1 C. turkey or chicken stock

2 eggs, beaten

1 onion, diced

salt, papper, celery salt, any other seasoning you like. I also added garlic powder, sage, thyme, & basil.

3 C. turkey or chicken, cut up

3 C. soft bread crumbs, cubed (if it's still a bit soupy, I add another slice of bread, cubed)

Pour into greased 2 qt. baking dish. (pie pan will do *snicker*)

I set mine in 1 inch of water & bake at 350 for 1.5 hours. I usually start checking it after 1 hour. I freeze this (obviously...lol), I let it set out for about 30 min. then put right in the oven, covered with foil. I usually bake it an hour, maybe more if it needs it.

TURKEY CASSEROLE MAKING DAY

Today was turkey casserole making day.
Inbetween taking dd to & from work twice today, & going to the funeral home, I made 8 turkey casseroles. And I am tired.
I have cream of chicken soup in the picture, but didn't use any, although I do have some recipes that call for it, I always end up making a roux (equal amounts of melted butter & flour & then some milk and/or turkey stock) for my casseroles. And the turkey stock in the picture did have the grease removed from the top! (gross...lol)
Six of the casserole's were made with 'light & fluffy' noodles. I have the recipes on the side bar. I used broccoli & cheddar cheese in some. The last two casseroles I ran out of cheddar, so I used mozzarella & instead of broccoli these had spinach. That may be interesting. lol The last two are in the oven now, as they are 'dressing type' casseroles that need to be baked before freezing. All total, I made 8 casseroles using 18 cups of turkey!
.....looks like we'll be having turkey casserole about once a month for the next 8 months!

Robin's Caramel Pecan Pie

My very 1st email pen pal, Robin, gave me this recipe quite a few years ago.

We LOVE this pecan pie, & I have made it for Thanksgiving & Christmas every year since then. This recipe for pecan pie uses kraft caramels instead of karo syrup.

I can't remember how long ago it was she gave me this recipe. It was at least more than 5 years ago, because I know we had the old computer & lived at the old house. I'm thinking it was the late 90's!

The caramel is WONDERFUL with pecans. They were actually so beautiful melting in the pan with the butter, that I had to take a spap. :)

Robin's Caramel Pecan Pie

36 Kraft Caramels

1/4 c. water

1/4 c. margarine

3/4 c. sugar

1/4 t. salt

1/2 t. vanilla extract

3 eggs, beaten

1 c. pecan halves

1 deep dish unbaked pie shell

Melt caramels with water and marg. in a saucepan over low heat. Stir occasionally until smooth. Combine sugar, salt, vanilla, & eggs. Gradually add caramel sauce & mix well. Stir in pecan halves. Pour into pie shell, bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Pie filling will appear to be very soft, but it becomes firm as it cools.

This is delicious!

Thank you Robin!!!

Thankful for harvest

Just a few words to say how thankful I am for EVERYTHING God has blessed us with.
I am so thankful for my Lord & Savior. I can never say thank you enough times for the forgivness I have for all of my sins because of the sacrifice Christ Jesus made.
I am so thankful for my family.
And I am thankful for the bountiful harvest that God blessed us with.
We had a HUGE crop of zucchini, a nice large crop of tomatoes, a good crop of green peppers, green beans, broccoli & radishes. And a wonderful, bountiful crop of corn.
And here's a picture of some of the freezer corn.

It was so worth all this work & all this work!
It does not taste like it came out of the freezer. :)
It tastes like fresh, sweet corn right off the cob.
And easy cooking instructions!
Remove corn from freezer & open ziplock bag.
Microwave for 1 minute.
Pour into bowl & add 1 T. butter & some salt & pepper.
Microwave for another minute or 2.
Done!
We'll probably have this at least once a week & should have enough to last us through spring or early summer.
Thank you Lord our Provider!

Turkey Casserole

I had one turkey casserole left in our deep freezer & I baked it a while back.

Now that it's the turkey season, I thought I'd share this recipe, it's a little different than the other one I posted.

Turkey Noodle Casserole

1 (6 oz.) pkg. noodles

1 small chopped green pepper

1 chopped onion

2 stalks celery, diced

4 T. butter plus 1 T. olive oil

4 T. flour

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1 c. chicken stock

1/2 c. milk

2 c. turkey, diced

1 small can mushrooms

Cook noodles, drain, & set aside.

Saute green peppers, onion, & celery in butter & olive oil until tender. Blend in flour & seasonings. Add milk & chicken stock & cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in the turkey, noodles, & the can of mushrooms. Pour into greased casserole dish & bake at 350 for 25 minutes. OR-if you want to save it for another day if you're a little tired of turkey....

freeze it! Pour it into a casserole dish lined with foil or saran wrap & freeze it. Once it is frozen, you can lift it out & then wrap it really well in saran wrap & foil, label it, & put it in freezer.

When ready to fix it, remove foil & return it to the origional casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 70-90 minutes. I kept mine covered with foil so the baking wouldn't harden the noodles on top, & I also stirred it a few times.

We had it with oven fries & sliced tomatoes. It felt like a free meal, because the only cost was a few potatoes! (sorry this picture quality it pretty bad...)

Spiced Apple Cookies

I found a great apple cookie recipe at Cookie Madness.

I won't type up the recipe since you can get it from there.

These are very nice, soft cookies. There's an icing recipe that goes with it, but we liked them without the icing.

I have made two batches of these now. I took some to the pitch-in at church the other night.

I have so many apples that I need to use up, so I'm sure I'll be making them again. :)

I loved them with my tea in the morning. :)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Stuffed Baked Potatoes -OR- The Best Mashed Potatoes Ever!

Stuffed Baked Potatoes
5 medium baking potatoes (I think I usually use 8)
¼ c. butter or margarine, softened
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided
¾ c. sour cream
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
1 T. snipped chives
1 garlic clove, minced
crumbled cooked bacon (or bacon bits)
chopped green onions (optional)
Bake potatoes at 400 for 1 hour or until tender. Reduce heat to 375. Cut each potato in half lengthwise; scoop out the pulp, leaving a thin shell. In large mixing bowl, beat the pulp with butter. Stir in 1 cup of the cheese, sour cream, salad dressing mix, chives & garlic. Spoon into potato shells. Sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese.
Place on baking sheet, Bake for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Top with bacon & green onions.

That’s the recipe as it appears on the cut out card I have from a Taste of Home magazine.
But, I NEVER can get the pulp scooped out of the shell right. It always looks a mess.
So I just skip all of that & make these into a casserole dish. I bake the potatoes & let them cool a bit so I can handle them. Then I cut or peel the skin off & throw the skins away.
Once I’ve made the mashed potatoes, instead of trying to put them back in the shells, I put it all into an 8x8 or 9x9 dish. I top it with cheese & bake for 15-20 minutes. If I have them, I add bacon & green onions to the top after removing from the oven.
My pictures didn't turn out so great, but here's the dish:

And here's a close up once we had dipped into it, so you can see all the speckly stuff.

YUM-O!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

GREEN TOMATOES

I picked a lot of green tomatoes on Saturday. I guessed the bags were about 10 pounds a piece so I decided to step on the scales. Sure enough, both bags added 21 pounds to my weight.

We've had a few frosts, but so far, believe it or not, it has missed what's left in the garden! One morning I looked out & there was frost all over in the neighbor's front grass field. But the tomato plants didn't have ANY on them. Knowing that freezing weather was coming this week, I picked the best of the green tomatoes. I can put them in brown bags & they will ripen up. Not as good as vine ripened, but still better than what we can get in the store. We probably have a week's worth of red ones left in the frig, then in a couple weeks these greens ones will ripen....& then that's it for the year. >sniff sniff<

Saturday evening we had steak sandwiches, & I couldn't not fix fried green tomatoes with it. :)

BEEF STROGANOFF

We love Beef Stroganoff. I didn't make if for years, I guess I was intimidated by it so I just bought it frozen. A few years ago I found this recipe on the back of Light & Fluffy noodles. It is SO GOOD.

Beef Stroganoff

1-1/2 pounds boneless beef round, cut into 1 in. cubes

1 onion, chopped

3 T. butter or marg.

1 can beef broth

1 T. Worchestershire sauce

1 4 oz. can sliced mushrooms, undrained

1 C. sour cream

1/4 c. flour

3/4 package of light & fluffy noodles

Saute beef cubes & onion in butter until browned. Add broth & worchestershire sauce; cover & simmer for 1 hour, or until beef is tender, (stir occasionally). Add mushrooms with liquid. Combine sour cream & flour & blend into meat mixture & cook 5 minutes or until thickened.

Meanwhile, cook noodles by directions on package & drain. Add to meat mixture. Stir & serve.

We like this with mashed potatoes & some kind of veggie, like green beans or corn.

This is really good comfort food, especially good in cool/cold weather. :)

WALNUTS

Looking up into the black walnut tree

Unhulled walnuts:

We ended up tearing the hulls open this way:It sure was a lot of work.
Now they have to dry for a few weeks.
But, I did a smaller batch more than a month ago.
When I crack them open they are no good. :( They're not moldy or anything, just too soft.
I am hoping this large batch turns out.
Otherwise....it was a whole lotta work for nothin'!