Please Pray for Baby Caiden

Please pray for Baby Caiden.
He is the newborn I babysit for. He is very very sick.
He was hospitalized a few weeks ago for pneumonia. After a week of recovery from that, he got sick with some kind of virus. He ran a high fever this last weekend & was put back in the hospital Sunday evening. He was diagnosed with Broncialitis (sp?) & was on oxygen, breathing treatments, & prednisone.
I was called this morning & told that he had to be put on a ventilator last evening. Then he had an allergic reaction to some meds. He has been given meds to paralize his body so he won't fight them, & will be having an echo done on his heart to check for "microcardia-something".
I hate to even type this part.....but his mother was told that he might not make it.
PLEASE PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM.
Please put him on any prayer chains you have in your churches.
Thank you so much.

Slanket Giveaway!

Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? is giving away TWO of these slankets!

I would love to win this. Can't you just imagine being wrapped up all nice & cozy in this slanket while reading?!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I got this recipe from the internet when we first got our computer (late 90's).
I think I'll type it up just as I printed it. It's a Basic Freezer Meatball recipe, then it has a lot of different ways to make them. The trick was to make a really large batch of meatballs to have in your freezer, so anytime you could take them out & make any one of many recipes, like sweet & sour, salisbury, hungarian meatball goulash (I've made this one too), herbed meatballs with noodles, slavic meatballs, and many more. It's a neat idea. And do you know that I printed out the basic meatball recipe & then 8 of the recipes, and it was more that TEN YEARS before I ever tried them?! It's true.
I'm glad I finally got around to trying them, because we really like them.

Basic Freezer Meatballs
4 pounds lean ground beef
2 C. dry bread crumbs
1 T. salt
1/4 t. pepper (I used more)
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 C. onion, chopped finely (I used more)
2 T. cornstarch
2 t. Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 400. Combine all ingredients into a large bowl & mix well, using your hands. Shape mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Place meatballs on ungreased baking sheets and bake for 10-15 minutes until browned. Drain on paper towels.

To freeze, first flash freeze: Place meatballs on cookie sheets (not touching) and place cookie sheet in freezer until meatballs are frozen. Then place frozen meatballs in freezer bags & return to the freezer.
hint: freeze them 24 meatballs per freezer bag. That is usually the amount called for in the recipes, or if you use your own recipe, 24 meatballs is a nice amount for a recipe.

Yield: about 144 meatballs. *

I didn't make this big recipe, I halved it using only 2 pounds of ground beef, so I should have made around 72 meatballs. I only got 56 meatballs, so I must have made mine a little bigger. I divided them into 2 freezer bags so I could have 2 different recipes.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs
"This is not that sticky red sauce, but a sophisticated contrast of sweet and sour flavors and interesting textures. Serve these Oriental inspired meatballs with white rice." (not my quote, but quote from the original recipe.)

20 oz. can pineapple chunks in juice
1/2 C. water
1/4 C. cider vinegar
1/4 C. brown sugar
1 t. soy sauce
2 T. cornstarch
1 small green pepper, cut into 1/2 inch squares
5 oz. sliced water chestnuts (I didn't have these)
24 frozen meatballs

Drain the pineapple chunks, reserving 3/4 C. of juice (if there is not enough, add water to make 3/4C. ) Combine juice, additional 1/2 C. water, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan and stir until sugar and cornstarch doissolve. Cook over low heat until thick and bubbling, stirring constantly. Add green peppers, meatballs, water chestmuts & 1 C. pineabble chunks ( use the rest elsewhere). Heat until meatballs are hot, stirring frequently. Serve with white rice.

We really liked this recipe. It was the kind of sweet & sour recipe that I've been looking for for years. Funny that it's been in my recipe binder for more than 10 years!
I'll post the recipe for the Hungarian Meatball Goulash soon.

Old Fashioned Sugar Cream Pie

Lately I've been posting a lot of recipes that I've found on-line, especially foods that I have found on other food blogger's sites. I thought it had been a while since I've posted one of my own recipes (or even posted at all! I've been busy...), & after seeing the news a few weeks ago I got an idea.
You see, Indiana has just voted in the legislature to have an official pie.
And it's the Sugar Cream Pie!
Here's a picture of mine:

If you want to read about it, here is an article about how this came to be.
In a nutshell, it states that sugar cream pies are a tradition dating back to the 1800's in Indiana. It comes from the Amish & Shaker communities. They would start making these pies in the wintertime when the fall harvest fruits started running out. It also has a different recipe than mine that you bake, I might like to try it sometime.
Here is another article that tells about how it was a little controversial.
Quoted from the artical:

The resolution was not without controversy.
Besides private murmuring among members of the General Assembly about the primacy of pecan pie, some wondered aloud whether the legislature has more pressing issues.
"I think it sends the wrong message," House Minority Leader Brian Bosma said. "I'm not a critic of the issue, but I think we have more important things to deal with."

*snickers* I just got a little kick out of that.
So on to my recipe. I never had sugar cream pie growing up. Mostly we had apple pie, among others. I never tasted this delicious pie until I married my husband. His mother used to make it. I'm thinking this recipe had either been her mother's or her mother-in-law's. I can't remember which one it was. I just remember that years ago I asked her for the recipe & she got it out of an old cookbook that was falling apart. But the recipe may have been seperate from that, written on a piece of paper, if I remember correctly. And I *might* be remembering wrong, because I also have this same memory of her giving me the recipe for date pudding. LOL Either way, it's old. LOL It comes from my husband's mom, who got it from one of her moms.


Old Fashioned Sugar Cream Pie
1 C. sugar
1 stick butter
2 c. milk
1/3 c. cornstarch
1 t. vanilla
1/8 t. nutmeg
more pats of butter & nutmeg for the top if you desire

Mix cornstarch & enough milk to make a thickening ( I use about 1/2 c. of the milk). Set aside.
Stir sugar & remaining milk in pan over medium/low heat until sugar disolves. Add butter & cook over med heat until butter melts. Slowly add the cornstarch & milk. Mix while stirring constantly. Add nutmeg & cook until thick. Remove from stove. Add vanilla & stir well. Pour into baked pie shell. **This is where I stop. But the recipe does say to pat with butter & sprinkle with a little more nutmeg or cinnamon. Place in warm oven for 5 minutes or until butter melts. Remove from oven & let cool. I have done this before, but really, the pie has enough butter in it. LOL But if you want more on the top, by all means, add it. :)

You do need to let this set up for a little while. We do LOVE to eat ours warm though.
Cold of course is good too. This reminds me of something my dad said before he married my mom. My mom said, "I like to make pies. I sure hope you like pies."
My dad said, " I only like two kinds of Pie."
My mom thought to herself that she hadn't *thought* he was that picky, but before she could reply to him he said,
" The only two pies I like are HOT & COLD." !!!!!

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

Everytime I think I'm out of kitchen tips, I think of one more.
I was making cookies this afternoon & I reached up for the brown sugar. As I grabbed the bag, I thought, "Hey, here's another tip."
I keep my brown sugar & powdered sugar in gallon sized zip-lock bags. I still keep them in their origonal bags, I just put the whole bag into a zip type bag. It keeps them fresher longer. Also, once these bags are opened, we usually close them by twisting the bag & then using a twist-tie. But with brown sugar, it seems like grains of brown sugar stick to the sides of the bag & they can be crumbly & somehow work themselves out of the bag. Well, keeping the whole bag in a zip type bag keeps crumbs from getting out & making a mess in your cabinet, which could attract bugs or ants or other yuck things.


You can see more kitchen tips over at Tammy's Recipes.

Cheddar and Herb Biscuits

When I put up my quick recipe for Cajun Beans & Rice, I mentioned that I had seen them made from scratch on tv. The show was called Down Home with the Neelys, & her red beans & rice sure looked good! She also served these cheddar biscuits with her rice. I thought they looked good, so when I made the the cajun beans & rice this week, I added these biscuits.
Here's a link to the original recipe.
I did make just a few changes. The original recipe calls for 1/2 t. cayenne pepper. That's way too much for us! Wow. I used 1/4 t. & they were too hot for our son to eat, so you could even go less than that if you'd like. I liked them at 1/4 t. & I thought they were pretty spicy (in a good way). I think my dh could take more cayenne in them though. So just use the pepper to your taste. The other change was the amount of melted butter that you brush on the biscuits. 4 T. was just way too much. I had melted butter left over & I really coated them all well. I just hate to waste anything. So 2 T. should be good for that.


Cheddar & Herb Biscuits
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons freshly chopped chives ( I used dehydrated onions because I didn't have any chives)
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley leaves
3/4 cup grated sharp yellow Cheddar
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
( I think it would also be good to add some garlic.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cayenne together using a whisk. Add the herbs, cheese and buttermilk. Stir together until dough forms. Once dough has formed, using an ice cream scooper, scoop out dough onto baking tray. With a brush, lightly butter tops. Bake for 15 minutes.
They were sure good dipped in the cajun rice & beans!

Cajun Beans & Rice

Here's another recipe that I consider cheap, easy, & good.
I can't remember who gave me this recipe. I think it was somebody in our family, but I just can't remember. Years ago we ate it at someone's house & they gave me the recipe. I never would have tried it otherwise. It would not have sounded good to me if I just read the recipe. We're just not "rice people". Both my dh & I have never cared for rice. But we did try this dish & we really, REALLY liked it.
It's called Cajun Beans & Rice, and you use a package called Cajun Sides: Red Beans & Rice. It's made by Knorr, but used to be made by Lipton. You can just follow the directions on this packet & make some red beans & rice, or you can add a few other ingredients to "kick it up a notch".

Here's my list of ingredients:
1 package of Knorr brand Cajun Red Beans & Rice
1 T. butter or olive oil
1 package polish sausage, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 can diced tomatoes (I use home canned stewed tomatoes, pint size jar)
2 C. water

In large saucepan saute the polish sausage & green pepper in the butter until tender. Stir in the Red Beans & Rice package & 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover & simmer for 7 minutes. Add the can of tomatoes & simmer another minute or 2. Let stand for 5 minutes.

This is very good with bread & butter, or biscuits.

Just last week on tv I saw someone make this from scratch. I may want to try that sometime. As far as this recipe, it feeds a family of 4 for around $5.
The packet of beans & rice usually costs 99 cents.
The tomatoes are under a dollar (or nearly free if you have home canned).
The polish sausage has been running $2.50 at WalMart.
The green pepper is under a dollar.
So that qualifies it as cheap in my book.
And you see how easy the recipe is.
You'll just have to try it & judge for yourself to see if it is good. :)
I think most people would like this...
Our non-eating rice family does!

**Edited to add:
Try these Cheddar & Herb Biscuits with cajun beans & rice. YUM!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

My kitchen tip this week is one of the best uses for left-over icing.
Crackers. :)
When I decorate a cake, I usually have icing left over in a parchment bag with a star tip in it.
The kids love to get smiley face crackers for dessert.

Actually, the kids' favorite is to have icing on regular or chocolate graham crackers.

But I prefer plain saltines. There's just something magical about salty crackers & sweet icing.
YUM!
See more Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy's Recipes.