Noodle Day

 As most of you know we are big fans of freezer meals.  Yesterday was a cooking day. In the morning egg noodles were made and dried.  In the afternoon chicken was cooked up.  The noodles were cooked rinsed and joined the chicken...it was a fine meal and freezer meals will be made after it is chilled. 

Far Guy's Paternal Grandmother made homemade noodles often...they were one of her specialty foods along with blueberry pie and the best fried potatoes ever!  The first meal I had at her house was chicken and noodles served on depression glass plates...we ate on the porch that overlooked the front yard.  When it came time for the blueberry pie I gave most of that to Far Guy as blueberries are not my favorite...I like them frozen or in pancakes.  Grandma hung white towels and then noodles over the backs of the oak chairs in her kitchen...I can still see that kitchen...the cupboards with red trim and decals in the center of the cupboard doors the big kitchen sink and the old phone that hung on the wall.  There was no rhyme or reason to her silverware drawer...everything was in the same drawer. Good memories!  

A double batch of noodles drying on parchment paper covered cookie sheets.  I made one batch and Far Guy made one batch...his are equal in length...mine are long and short and in between. ...mine were also stacking this way and that...but they all tasted good.  We use the recipe in the Betty Crocker Cookbook.

We get along well in the kitchen.  He could make this dish all by himself if he had to. 

Far Side

Christmas Projects Begin

I updated the computer Christmas Card Address list, a few people had moved…luckily I quickly got their address via a private message on facebook.   Perhaps I should just send their Christmas Card via facebook too.  I also updated my real address book…the one I can page through and look up an address.

Far Guy says he has an idea for the Christmas Letter…some kind of wonderful Christmasy computer paper will be purchased soon.  Another ink cartridge is on the list too.

The wood carved Christmas Ornaments will be mailed today.  I am certain I will cause a long line right outside the door at the Post Office. We will have an ornament give away soon…maybe beginning Thursday and ending Sunday so I can get them in the mail next Monday.

The Cookie Exchange is coming up soon.  I bought some coffin shaped tins, presentation is important!  I have decided to make fudge. Three kinds. The no fail one with marshmallow creme, a white chocolate dried cherry fudge and a layered fudge with caramel, salted peanuts and maybe peanut butter and butterscotch chips.  The plan is to make all the fudge in one day, package it all up and put it in ice cream buckets in the freezer and when I arrive at the Cookie Exchange I can put everything in the tins.  I know I can make the no fail fudge recipe…but thoughts of a time when I made fudge when the girls were little keeps coming into my head…the fudge never set up and had to be scooped up with a spoon.  The girls didn’t seem to mind.

It took me over a week to decide what to make for the exchange, this week I will gather all the supplies and next week the fudge making will commence. My first idea was chocolate covered potato chips…someone said “That doesn’t sound real Christmasy to me.” ( He likes fudge and I never make it.)

I had real good luck making gluten free pumpkin bread over Thanksgiving. I used my normal recipe and substituted rice flour for regular flour…almost the same amount perhaps a third of a cup more.

Friday Thoughts

Our woodchucks hibernate from October to April here in Northern Minnesota. They don’t come out on Feb 2 to the below zero weather, they are fast asleep down in the burrows below the frost line.   IF we had only six more weeks of winter I would be elated…but for us up here in the land of the FROZEN  …winter will be over in about 12 more weeks…give or take a few weeks.

I cleaned out my shampoo/conditioner drawer.  Took all the ones that didn’t pass the fragrance test to Savannah.  There are only a few shampoos that have no or very little fragrance.  Some may smell just fine in the store …yes I lift the caps and get a whiff…but when you use them the fragrance multiplys.

I started making my own bathroom cleaner after normal products were chasing Far Guy out of the house.  He cannot tolerate fragrance of any kind….it makes his lungs feel burned and makes it difficult for him to breathe.

In a spray bottle combine the following:

1/4 cup Dawn dishwashing liquid

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 cup white vinegar

1 1/4 cups of water

Shake and use.  It takes care of lime and hard water deposits.  It does a good job cleaning and does not have a heavy fragrance….duh it smells like lemon juice and vinegar!

We had an adventure in cooking this week.  Far Guy was hungry for Gumbo, so we made Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo.  I found a recipe and browned the flour in my cast iron dutch oven.  After stiring and stiring over low heat the flour finally got golden brown.  I set that aside and then added some olive oil to my pan and threw in chopped green and yellow peppers with a little onion, added some garlic salt, creole seasoning, thyme, chicken broth, spicy hot V8 juice and two cans of diced tomatoes. Then we added the golden flour slowly!  Finally I added some cooked diced chicken and raw shrimp…and let it simmer.  We ate it over white rice.  Far Guy declared it delicious.  I will have it again next year.  It was frozen in individual servings so he can have it when ever he wants.

Years ago Far Guy cooked some Gumbo.  The one with six garlic BULBS and a whole bunch of seafood that even our dog wouldn’t eat. You could smell that gumbo cooking outside of the house and inside the house our eyes watered. It is a cooking adventure we will never forget…although he may want to!  The best Gumbo ever was at D and B Gumbo in Gulfport Mississippi….mouth watering good gumbo.

I got the February Flag up.

Eating

The Redpolls are here. They arrived yesterday.  The word must be out that we have an unending supply of Thistle Seed.

They feed at the feeders and down on the ground.  I wonder if they came in from the south, the north or from someone’s feeders who went south.

Many in our area are “Snow Birds”  that means when the snow flies they head south.  The rest wait till after Christmas to head out and then there are those of us who stay put…die hard Minnesota residents.  Someone has to stay around to feed the birds.

I made homemade noodles and chicken for Saturday night supper.  The ultimate comfort food.  His paternal grandmother would make them often for Sunday dinner along with blueberry pie.  We skipped the pie part.  There was plenty left over to freeze.  As I rolled and cut the noodles I was transported back to her kitchen…she threw a towel of the back of a chair and hung the noodles there to dry. 

We have become lazy cooks…cook once eat at least twice…or freeze in individual servings.
Far Guy wanted to know step by step what I did with those noodles.  I made them, the recipe is in any Betty Crocker Cookbook for Egg Noodles.   They dried on cookie sheets.  I cooked up chicken thighs in a roaster pan in the oven while taking a nap.  When I got up, I boiled the noodles for about 20 plus minutes in a Dutch Oven half full of water.  Far Guy shredded the chicken and took out bones, sockets and veins…I hate veins in chicken meat.  Then I drained the noodles and added the chicken and it’s broth…and brought it all to a simmer.  Delish…almost as good as his grandma used to make.

Cooking Over An Open Fire

I enjoyed cooking over an open fire when we camped out.  I used to package up all the dry ingredients for Scones, then I just had to add the shortening and the milk.  The scones could then be cooked in a cast iron skillet.

In amongst our camping gear was a set of cast iron fry pans and a Dutch Oven.  In those three pans along with some aluminum foil most meals could be cooked successfully. 

We also had a two sided long handled pan that would  serve as a receptacle for two slices of buttered bread, when you added toppings to the bread the two sides were clamped together and held over the fire.  You could make toast or for lunch you could add pepperoni and cheese to some pizza sauce spread on that bread, or in the evening sitting around the campfire you could spread pie filling or jam on those pieces of bread to make a toasty dessert. 

I still have that long handled pan in the garage someplace.  My cast iron fry pans have all been cleaned up ( they get really sooty being used over an open fire) I still use them every once in a while…they make a delicious peach upside down cake…and that Dutch Oven makes the best pot of vegetable soup several times a year.

My Cookbook

My Cookbook is almost 42 years old.  We got two of them as wedding gifts.  One was hard bound and one was in a five ring binder.  One of them was from one of Far Guys X girlfriends.  I was insulted. ( I think my lip may have quivered..people that know me well will run for cover at the first sign of a quiver.) After all I could make a real tasty grilled cheese sandwich complete with warmed up tomato soup out of a can and I could scramble an egg, sometimes even without burning it!

As it happened..she (the X) got married the next weekend.  We attended the fancy smancy wedding with candelabras on every pew and violin music.  I re-gifted her the hardbound Betty Crocker cookbook..and I kept the one in the five ring binder for myself.  I wonder if she still has it..I know she doesn’t have the husband. ( Ha! I still have mine!)

There are parts of this cookbook that are all worn out.  The cookie sections have notes and recipes written in the margins.

Pathetic looking isn’t it?  Perhaps I should invest in some of those circle thingys to reinforce the holes.

Some are single sheets..well loved recipes..proof that once upon a time I made cookies for my girls.  A long time ago they were each encouraged to choose two kinds of Christmas Cookies..and they would help me bake.  Far Guy always chose the Ginger Snaps with that improved recipe written in red ink.  That other recipe in the center of the page is for a soft molasses raisin cookie that gets topped with a powdered sugar frosting..yummy.  That was my favorite!  I know it doesn’t say anything about raisins or a frosting..but believe me..that is a good cookie.

One confusing recipe is written on the front cover.  I know I was talking to my Grandma Drewes on the phone when I wrote it down.  It was her recipe for my favorite Russian Dill Pickles.  Hopefully I have the real recipe written down someplace else.

I have almost worn this book out and I still cannot cook. I watch all kinds of cooking shows and collect recipe books to read..not sure it has ever done a lick of good. 

 

42 years ago this cookbook had a front and a back cover..I still have the back cover..for old times sake.  I suppose I should look for a new index..everything beyond half of R is missing:)

Old Bowls

I used to have a set of bowls just like this one. I loved to use the yellow one for serving a huge amount of mashed potatoes at family gatherings where I couldn't just leave them in the pot that they were cooked and mashed in. The green one was the salad bowl. Sometimes it held coleslaw, sometimes a beautiful jello. The red one and the blue one I rarely used. Far Guys Mom always used her blue one, it is what she mixed her flour and water in to thicken her gravy.

Originally mine were found, at the resort. One thing that I didn't mind doing was shopping at garage sales and thrift stores for accessories and good usable kitchen items for the eight kitchens. I hated cleaning those eight kitchens..but they were well equipped! This set of bowls was spread out in four different cottages. I eventually replaced this mixing bowl set with other suitable bowls and kept this set for myself. ( a CEO perk..LOL)

Fast forward many years, we are here and Far Guy and I cook a Thanksgiving dinner. I get out the yellow and green bowls, I have to dig into my storage boxes to find them. After the big dinner, I put the bowls on the shelf in the furnace room, I might need them again at Christmas. The next week Far Guy is being a carpenter upstairs, and I am helping him. We hear a terrible crash, the shelf came off of the wall and the entire furnace room was filled with broken glass. Not only my two special bowls..but a bottle of Windsor and a couple bottles of wine. ..a smelly, glassy mess. The house smelled like a brewery.

I now have two blue bowls. One is mine and one was Far Guys Mom's, I still have my red one. I have always wanted to complete my set. I have seen this set in antique shops..usually they are priced around 100 dollars. This set was 39.95 did I buy it? No, Far Guy said I should have. I really do have more than enough bowls. I rarely cook anyway, and when I do, I just leave the pots filled with food on the stove..we rarely use serving bowls. Beside that I only needed the yellow and green bowls. I certainly didn't need an extra red bowl, or an extra, extra blue bowl. So I passed them up, sometimes it is all about the hunt..and when it is time to go in for the kill..you say Hey..that was fun..cross that one off of the list OR what in the world do I need all those bowls for anyway? :)