What's for supper?

I am having a friend and her husband over for dinner tonight.  We are celebrating their birthdays.

I own over 200 cookbooks.  I look thru over 100 cooking blogs during the week.

(sigh)  I can't for the life of me figure out what to have tonight except chocolate cake.

And I need to leave for the market......now.

Crab Dip

It's amazing how time flies. I have cooked, taken pictures and...not gotten anywhere near my blog for the past week.

I have got a lot done at work tho.


Last Saturday night, we had a game-night at our house. Games and Grub. Where everyone brings an appetizer and whatever board games or card games they'd like to play, and then we set up tables around the house and people can eat and visit and play games as they'd like.


Our Saturday night ranged from some t-ball in the back yard, to Battleship to Pinochle to Adverteasing to Twenty Questions to our slot machine in the garage. (yes, we have a slot machine in our garage...the Sunday School kids LOVED it. )


There were lots of good appetizers.
I made this crab dip. I got the recipe from my good friend Theda. We have been friends since Jr. High...and that was many, many years ago. We both turned 50 this past summer.


Theda is a great cook and a wonderful entertainer.
Everyone liked this dip.




Crab Dip


1 pkg cream cheese--softened
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup finely sliced green onions
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 can crab


Heat the cream cheese and mushroom soup on medium low, stirring until blended. Remove from the stove, Stir in the mayonnaise until well blended. Add remaining ingredients, stir together. Refrigerate a few hours, even overnight. (tastes better when cold).


She says: This makes a large bowl full. I like to take one bowl of the dip and keep one small bowl for the next day at home. This way, in case I did not get enough at the party, I have the next day to enjoy it.
I think that it is best with ridged potato chips.


I agree with her.

Sunday afternoon

I've been taking a few days break from blogging. I had lots of stuff to say, I just needed to sit back for a bit.



It's our first REALLY nice day this spring, and the best thing about spring and summer is...? Practically no dishes to do!


The Handyman is bbqing some chicken and I have some corn and rice going and we will eat on the patio. We love our patio....we love backyard eating.


I took a nap on our patio swing this afternoon....warm weather, a good book, a short snooze.... until the Handyman "accidentally" turned one of the sprinklers he was working on, towards me. A little sprinkle woke me up.


Just in time tho....to get our supper going and eaten in time to make it to the movie theater to see "Alice in Wonderland".


Before I go, I wanted to share this picture with you.... our friends, the Storms, have two cute as can be little boys. We had them over for dinner the other night ( made Bobby Flay's Fried Chicken drizzled with Honey and chipotle seasoning. It was good, but the pictures weren't).  (pictures of the chicken, not the boys that is)

At the end of the meal, Nate, the older of the two (he's six) asked his dad if he could be excused. His dad said, "no, you have to eat some more of the food on your plate."


This caused a bit of arguing with his dad, but Larry held firm.  Eat more of your supper.    Mattie, the younger one, just quietly looked up at the Handyman, bypassed his dad and whispered, "Rich, can I be excused please?"


TOTALLY bypassed his father....he went straight to the head of household.
It was the funniest thing.


Mitzi, his mom, made some biscuits to bring. In the shape of hearts. Maybe this WAS Valentines Weekend.
(I'm a little behind)

I have no great pictures of the fried chicken, but I do make a mean "white gravy" or milk gravy.
But everyone knows how to do this, right?

 MILK GRAVY


Fry a chicken and remove to a platter.
Drain the excess grease.....leave maybe 1 tablespoon in the drippings
Add flour to the the drippings and cook, stirring until you get a thick paste
Add milk and stir, until you get the consistency you like
Add salt and pepper to taste
And serve over hot mashed potatoes.

You get all those little crispy bits of fried chicken bits in your gravy.  Yum!

The chicken was really good.... I think I'll make it again soon and take better "chicken" pictures and write a post about that.

What's Outside My Kitchen Window? Library Loot and a fun meme

What's Outside My Kitchen Window?

Well, that's looking just as it did last week....nothing new.  Our springs  here in the "high desert" are sometimes cold, sometimes hot.  One never knows.  This year it is cold.  We had snow and hail and rain and sunshine all in one day.
This day.

I was leaving my house to walk down the street to the park, where my grandson had his first baseball game of the season.
I had on a hoodie (we used to call them hooded sweatshirts) and a coat and gloves. And I carried an old quilt.
I am no dummy.

While sitting on the cold--very cold--metal bleachers, I noticed there was blue sky between the fluffy white clouds and the dark menacing rain cloud drifting over us.
Can you see it?

Those little ball players were T-Ball players, younger than my grandson... we were on the cold--very cold---metal bleachers on the other side of the park.  We have a "real" baseball diamond.
And see those cars parked there?  I so very much wanted to be the kind of grandma who sat in her car and just HONKED when my grandson and his team  made a good play.
But I just couldn't do it.  I felt if I did so,  I'd have to be the kind of grandma who had her slippers on and curlers in her hair, so, um, no, I braved the cold--freezing, fridgid cold with the parents who had to be there.
I am still trying to thaw out.
And that rain cloud?  It never really did much but give a little mist to  us towards the end of the game... that is, until the Handyman and I had to walk home.   Then it let loose and poured.

so, not my kitchen window, but that's what's outside my window of life....

**********************************

Library Loot!  I love Library Loot, but have  taken out way too many book in the past few weeks, so I only have  a couple to share with you today.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva at  at "A Striped Armchair"  and Marg at "Adventures of an Intrepid Reader"  that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

What did I get?

Christmas on Jane Street.
You are probably asking yourself why?  Why a Christmas book?
Well, because I read a little review on it and thought if it was any good, I might buy one or two as gifts next Christmas.  But it has to be good, so this is my way of checking that out.

And these two...

This Dame's for Hire, Too Darn Hot, by Sandra Scoppettone.
Because...I'm always on the lookout for some good characters!  Usually I find them  (characters I want to follow) in mystery books.  I've never read any by this author, so we'll have to see.

*************************************************
And finally.....
Thanks to TeacherNinja for this fun meme.


Which Ones Have You Read?
So which of the Top 100 Children's Novels have you read? I put mine in bold. I've read quite a few....because I've been around for quite a while.  ~smiles~


100. The Egypt Game - Snyder (1967)
99. The Indian in the Cupboard - Banks (1980)
98. Children of Green Knowe - Boston (1954)
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - DiCamillo (2006)
96. The Witches - Dahl (1983)
95. Pippi Longstocking - Lindgren (1950
94. Swallows and Amazons - Ransome (1930)
93. Caddie Woodlawn - Brink (1935)
92. Ella Enchanted - Levine (1997)
91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School - Sachar (1978)
90. Sarah, Plain and Tall - MacLachlan (1985)
89. Ramona and Her Father - Cleary (1977)
88. The High King - Alexander (1968)
87. The View from Saturday - Konigsburg (1996)
86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Rowling (1999)
85. On the Banks of Plum Creek - Wilder (1937)
84. The Little White Horse - Goudge (1946)
83. The Thief - Turner (1997)
82. The Book of Three - Alexander (1964)
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Lin (2009)
80. The Graveyard Book - Gaiman (2008)
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family - Taylor (1951)
78. Johnny Tremain - Forbes (1943)
77. The City of Ember - DuPrau (2003)
76. Out of the Dust - Hesse (1997)
75. Love That Dog - Creech (2001)
74. The Borrowers - Norton (1953)
73. My Side of the Mountain - George (1959)
72. My Father's Dragon - Gannett (1948)
71. The Bad Beginning - Snicket (1999)
70. Betsy-Tacy - Lovelae (1940)
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society - Stewart ( 2007)
68. Walk Two Moons - Creech (1994)
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher - Coville (1991)
66. Henry Huggins - Cleary (1950)
65. Ballet Shoes - Stratfeild (1936)
64. A Long Way from Chicago - Peck (1998)
63. Gone-Away Lake - Enright (1957)
62. The Secret of the Old Clock - Keene (1959)
61. Stargirl - Spinelli (2000)
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle - Avi (1990)
59. Inkheart - Funke (2003)
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Aiken (1962)
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Cleary (1981)
56. Number the Stars - Lowry (1989)
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins - Paterson (1978)
54. The BFG - Dahl (1982)
53. Wind in the Willows - Grahame (1908)
52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007)
51. The Saturdays - Enright (1941)
50. Island of the Blue Dolphins - O'Dell (1960)
49. Frindle - Clements (1996)
48. The Penderwicks - Birdsall (2005)
47. Bud, Not Buddy - Curtis (1999)
46. Where the Red Fern Grows - Rawls (1961)
45. The Golden Compass - Pullman (1995)
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Blume (1972)
43. Ramona the Pest - Cleary (1968)
42. Little House on the Prairie - Wilder (1935)
41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Speare (1958)
40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Baum (1900)
39. When You Reach Me - Stead (2009)
38. HP and the Order of the Phoenix - Rowling (2003)
37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Taylor (1976)
36. Are You there, God? It's Me, Margaret - Blume (1970)
35. HP and the Goblet of Fire - Rowling (2000)
34. The Watson's Go to Birmingham - Curtis (1995)
33. James and the Giant Peach - Dahl (1961)
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - O'Brian (1971)
31. Half Magic - Eager (1954)
30. Winnie-the-Pooh - Milne (1926)
29. The Dark Is Rising - Cooper (1973)
28. A Little Princess - Burnett (1905)
27. Alice I and II - Carroll (1865/72)
26. Hatchet - Paulsen (1989)
25. Little Women - Alcott (1868/9)
24. HP and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling (2007)
23. Little House in the Big Woods - Wilder (1932)
22. The Tale of Despereaux - DiCamillo (2003)
21. The Lightening Thief - Riordan (2005)
20. Tuck Everlasting - Babbitt (1975)
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Dahl (1964)
18. Matilda - Dahl (1988)
17. Maniac Magee - Spinelli (1990)
16. Harriet the Spy - Fitzhugh (1964)
15. Because of Winn-Dixie - DiCamillo (2000)
14. HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Rowling (1999)
13. Bridge to Terabithia - Paterson (1977)
12. The Hobbit - Tolkien (1938)
11. The Westing Game - Raskin (1978)
10. The Phantom Tollbooth - Juster (1961)
9. Anne of Green Gables - Montgomery (1908)
8. The Secret Garden - Burnett (1911)
7. The Giver -Lowry (1993)
6. Holes - Sachar (1998)
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - Koningsburg (1967)
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Lewis (1950)
3. Harry Potter #1 - Rowling (1997)
2. A Wrinkle in Time - L'Engle (1962)
1. Charlotte's Web - White (1952)

Cookbook Countdown

This evening I made a recipe from "Southern Plate" ..... Mama's Taco Casserole.



It calls for instant Potato Flakes, so I bought some.

When the Handyman got home from work, he grabbed them and said 'THIS IS WHAT MY MOM FIXED....This is what we had when I was a kid." And then he opened the box and shook some out into his hand and stuffed them into his mouth. Again he said, "this is what we used to do when I was a kid."


Of course he said this muffled as the potato buds began to expand inside his mouth. Then he muffled, "or you can put some in a coffee cup with hot water from the sink, we used to have them as after school snacks."


Who knew that one little box of Potato Buds could excite him like that? Ahhhh.....memories.


**this casserole was met by approval from the whole family!


*******************************


COOKBOOK COUNTDOWN
The Wishram Washington Community Cookbook, 1993

This recipe comes to me via cookbook in an interesting way.
It's mine.   I have made it for years and have been happy to share it. My mother-in-law liked it so much she put it in a hometown cookbook, in her hometown.

We just called it "Skinny Cake", but my mother in law put it in the cookbook as "Skinny Chocolate Cake", whatever you want to call it, it's a really great sheet cake . (It just doesn't take a good picture)

SKINNY CAKE
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cubes butter
4 T. Cocoa
1 cup water
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla


Mix together the flour, sugar and salt, set aside. Melt together the butter, cocoa and water. Boil for 1 minute. Pour into flour mixture and stir to combine. Add eggs, soda, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well. Grease and flour a jelly roll pan (you can use a cookie sheet with sides 17 x 11 x 1 inches) Pour batter into it and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.


1 cube butter
6 Tbsp milk
4 Tbsp cocoa
simmer together until butter is melted. Add 1 box of powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional) and pour over hot cake.


This is a good cake for a pot luck or picnic when you have a crowd. We took it with us on our picnic to the desert on Sunday.
 

 

Teaser Tuesday

Miz B at Should Be Reading hosts a weekly meme entitled Teaser Tuesday


*Grab your current read.

*Let the book fall open to a random page.
*Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
*You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
*Please avoid spoilers!




Weeping would not have come close to what she felt. She felt fear, sitting out there on her folding chair. Fear that her heart would squeeze shut again, would stop, the way it did once before, a fist punched through her back.
         Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, page 67.

Musing Mondays

MM is hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page.


Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about the ‘best’ books'.
She writes:
There’s been some discussion on my blog this week about what should or shouldn’t make a ‘best' books’ list. What elements do you think lands a book in that ‘best’ category? Think of your top 5 best books and tune in next week to see the collated list.


**********************************


I think that asking someone what they would put on their "best" list is like delving into religion and politics. ~grins~
(not that I don't love these lists, because I do!  I love reading about what others love to read)


What would (and does) make my "best" list, is not the same---nor nearly as literary--as most of you. As I've often said, I'm not a book reviewer, I'm just a lover of books (it says so on my license plate), and what I love about books is the feeling they give me, long after I've put them down.


Goodnight Moon could make my list....because it gives me the BEST feeling, holding a grandbaby and reading it. (so does Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, dum ditty, dum ditty, dum, dum, dum. GOOD STUFF when you're reading to a one-year old)


The Godfather could make my list....because it gives me the BEST memory for hiding under the covers, long after I should have been asleep, reading a grown-up book, when I probably wasn't old enough to "get it". (or Valley of the Dolls, or the Exorcist...all of which I read when I was 12! If my parents had only known!)


The Call of the Wild could make my list....because it gave me the BEST sense of adventure I had ever felt in my entire life (again, I was 12).


My Sister's Keeper could make my list....because, while yes, I know it's a bit mass-markety, the ending really did give me the BEST shock ending I had read in a long time!


The Shining could make my list....because, it gave me the BEST scare ever!


One for the Money could make my list....because Stephanie Plumb gives me some of the BEST laughs ever.


I do love Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, To Kill a Mockingbird, Oh Pioneers, The Great Gatsby....I do. I really do. But "best" is subjective. And really, I am writing down titles off the other "besties lists" to read. Brideshead Revisited being on the top of the list. And Death Comes to the Archbishop. I'm excited to read these, because I haven't.


Please don't hate me for not following the "best" rules. (what were they again?) Like I said, best is subjective and this is "my" best.


1. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
3. Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly (My first romance book... I learned not to call a boy or kiss until the 3rd date at least!)
4. The Hobbit ( I read it long before Lord of The Rings--it started it all)
5. The Changeling by Zilpha Keatly Snyder (I saw her at a convention once and I told her that was a life changing book for me...in the 4th grade. She said, "oh, you're one of those...changelings". Then I was sure there was a secret club, a secret world, a secret message....meant just for me and other lovers of the Changeling )