A new cousin

Well, here it is Sunday. I still haven't gotten to eat. Real food that is. Got on the scale and I have lost about 15 lbs. since I started this ordeal. Oatmeal has become a staple in my house.
I forget what meat and veggies and fruit is.
Good news, though. I have a wonderful new cousin. Yes, little Lila Catherine Estelle. She came into the world on April 22 at 5:08 p.m. and weighed in at 7 lbs. I am so happy. Just love babies.
But they don't stay babies too long.
Hope your week goes well. Enjoy the nice weather while we can. I hear we are to have storms
this week. Til later on......

Soup, yum

Hi everyone.

Well, it has been a week since the surgery. It still feels like yesterday. I wish I would have done things differently. Got the flu on top of everything. Nausea and all. Caught it from one of the dental workers who was sick with the same symptoms. I think people who are sick should stay home especially in that field.

Well, I haven't been able to eat much, but I thought of a good soup to make:

Oxtail/short rib vegetable soup

Use one oxtail or more if you prefer two packages of short ribs

one can of corn (drained) one large can of whole tomatoes

one can of peas (drained) one can of green beans(drained)

one can of wax beans one can of carrots sliced

one can of potatoes one can of butter beans

one stalk of celery diced one onion diced

two cans of low sodium beef stock

In a large pot, place oxtails, ribs and cover with water. Bring to a boil. When the water starts to have sacum (brown frothy matter) use a spoon to remove and discard. After this has cooked about 1 and 1/2 hrs. add the vegetables and the stock. Cook until the meat is tender about 2-3 hrs in total. Then enjoy. You may need to add more water if needed. Keep covered and stir the

soup frequently to prevent sticking.

Enjoy. This is one of my favorite soups. Mom liked it too. Hope you will.

MMMM eggplant

Hi again.
This week has been murder. Had oral surgery. They said that it wouldn't be bad, but it was a lot worse than I could have imagined. As I sit here thinking of different foods to eat, one thing comes to mind that I really enjoy. Eggplant. Oh, I have had it many ways, but by far my favorite way is the way my grandma and mother fixed it. Mom finally broke down and told me how to do it.
Take one large eggplant, peel it. Cut it into small cubes. Take one potato, large, peel it and cut into cubes the size of your eggplant. Boil the potato in water (salted) along with the eggplant. Drain both when done well. Mash the eggplant and potato together. Finely dice one small onion and add to eggplant/potato mash. Add salt and pepper to taste. One egg and mix together. Take a muffin tin and grease or Pam the sides and bottoms well. Add the mixture. Take bacon and cut into pieces and place one piece per muffin cup on the top of eggplant mix. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 mins. to 1 hr. or until the bacon is done. Pop out of the muffin tin and enjoy as a side dish.
I really like my eggplant this way. Hope you will give it a try. Enjoy!!

Where has the time gone

Well, here it is Thursday after Easter already. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Lots of goodies.....hopefully your chocolate bunnies had ears.
Sitting here and thinking about some of the good food we had as children. The wonderful pigs in a blanket or cabbage rolls. Was talking to my sister-in-law and she gave me a recipe that was a whole lot easier than all the rolling. She baked hers as a casserole, I put mine in a crock pot and cooked it. I enjoyed it.
Take one head of cabbage and place it in a pot of boiling water. Boil about 15 mins. and remove.
Take one bag of minute rice and cook according to package directions. Rinse in cold water.
Saute one onion in margarine or butter until transparent. Brown 1 and 1/2 pounds of ground beef, chuck or turkey in skillet. Take outer leaves of the cabbage and lay in pan or bottom of crock pot. Slice the rest of the cabbage head into thin strips. Mix meat, onion, rice with salt and pepper to taste and layer with shredded cabbage in casserole or crock pot. Add two cans of tomato soup, and four cans of water.(This is for the crock pot only) For casserole--add two cans of soup and two cans water and bake at 350 for 1 hr. covered. Turn on crock pot on low for 6 hrs. or 3 hrs. high. Make some mashed potatoes and you have a fantastic supper. I have a lot of left overs. Enjoy.
Hopefully next week I will be able to add more recipes. See you then.

Poor bunny

Hi!

Well, here it is almost Easter. Wednesday. A time to be shopping for the ham. Getting things in order for the Sunday dinner. Just read an email from a friend who is having dinner at her place. I know what it is to cook and get prepared and work. A lot of preparation to have the family over. After reading her email, I was reminded of an incident when I was a child.

Oh, how we looked forward to the Easter basket in the morning. To see what the Easter bunny brought to us. Each Saturday night before Easter, we would get a plate out (my brother and I) and put on it celery and carrots for the Easter Bunny to enjoy on his way so he would leave us nice baskets full of goodies. One year, my mom caught me in the refrigerator after the plate was put out but before I went to bed. She said to me, "What are you doing?" I replied, "Counting the celery and carrots." "Why?" she asked. "Because someone said that the parents just take the celery and carrots and put them back into the refrigerator because there is no Easter Bunny." Not wanting to put an end to the Easter Bunny just yet, mom took the celery and carrots and put them in the basement up on a shelf where we wouldn't find them where they rotted away. It went on like that a few more years before we found out there was no bunny.

And we had to watch out for mom with our chocolate bunnies, they usually were earless. Ma had a thing for the bunny's ears and would bite them off. For the longest time I never knew chocolate bunnies had ears!

Fun memories........Hope you have some to remember this Easter. Have a Happy One! Til next week..........BJ

It's April

Wow! Where has the time gone. It is April already. I cannot believe Easter is just a week away. Time is going fast. Time to go visit the cemetary and put the flowers out for Easter. Time to prepare for Easter morning. My mom made sweet bread for Easter, but I have yet to find that wonderful recipe. It had raisins and was a sweet bread yeast dough. The top had a special crust that was so yummy.

Easter sunday we went to Lakeview for pictures at the basket. Cold, rain, sun, or warm we went. Had ham and boiled eggs and either macaroni salad (for me, I hate potato salad) or potato salad for everyone else. Some of the other relatives would be over, aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts and uncles, grandparents. What wonderful, warm memories to cherish.

Easter just gets to be another day as we get older and the family disappears. The dinners are gone. But the memories we can cherish in our hearts forever. Happy weekend. Will see if I can find the wonderful bread recipe to share....

Almost Easter

I don't remember having big family get togethers with my great grandmother, but we did have my great aunts, great uncles and cousins and aunts and uncles over for some of the holidays.

Easter....my favorite time. Grandma made sweet bread...Babka. My mother followed suite. However, I have not been able to find their recipe. I am posting a recipe from the Polish cookbook that I found:

• 1/2 c soft butter 4 cups flour


• 1/2 c sugar 1 t salt


• 4 egg yolks 1/2 t cinnamon


• 1 c milk, scalded l c white raisins


• l cake yeast l egg yolk, beaten


• grated rind of 1 lemon 2 T water


• 1/4 c lukewarm water l/4 c chopped almonds

Mix butter and sugar in large mixing bowl. Add salt to egg yolks and beat until thick. Add to sugar and butter mix. Add yeast softened in 1/4 c. lukewarm water. Add lemon rind and cinnamon. Add flour aalternately with milk and beat well to make smooth batter. Add raisins and knead with hands until batter leaves the fingers. Let rise in warm place and is double in bulk (approximately 1 1/2 hrs.) Punch down and let rise again until double in bulk. Butter fluted tube pan or bread pan generously and sprinkle with fine bread crumbs and fill with dough. Brush top with mixture made by beating 1 egg yolk with 2 T. water. Sprinkle with almonds, let rise and bake in 350 degree oven about 30 mins. check for doneness and browning.

Hope this babka reminds you of your youth.....I'll keep looking for my grandma's recipe.