Biscuits with Gravy and Scones with Honey-Butter

This morning Roland made biscuits with sausage gravy.  Biscuits and Gravy had been a morning staple for those who lived where I served my mission – at least my first area.  I recall a conversation (after we pointed out to her that biscuits and gravy in the west was not that common.)

She said that she couldn’t even imagine life without biscuits and gravy.  We said that someone in the west missing biscuits and gravy would be as easy to imagine as for her to imagine life without scones.

What?!

“What are scones?”

“Exactly. That’s how much we would miss biscuits with gravy”

Because scones was such a foreign concept to the members of my first area, my companion decided it would be fun to introduce several of them to our idea of wonderful.

Several members were invited to the bishop’s home where my companion (though I think we had made the initial dough at the dinky trailer where we had lived) fried up scones and put me in charge of the honey-butter.  I stirred the honey and butter together.  Big deal.  It was my companion who had done the majority of work.

I don’t think the members were all too impressed with scones.  I didn’t hear anybody say anything about the scone itself.  Several praised me on my wonderful honey-butter (as though I had slaved all day over it;  actually that part of the world seemed big into apple butter – which is not near as sweet as the honey)  It is the only time I remember having scones on my mission.

Kitchen Miracles

Roland enjoys baking. Often he will make a chocolate frosting to go atop any desserts he has made. He usually makes a lot more than is needed. For the most part I quite enjoy his frosting. I always save it to use on something else. Between graham crackers is good. And if I refrigerate the product, it becomes hard like fudge and is good to eat that way.

Before we left on our trip, we had gone to the garden and took home some cauliflower which I broke and put into bags as we were leaving the next day. As I've mentioned in several posts, Roland does not enjoy my cooking for the most part – nor do I enjoy cooking. It doesn't help matters that he rarely ever wants to eat what I fix.

It's been a while since I saw somebody's post praising mock fried rice. My rice is always so horrific, I was excited to try it – but did not have the opportunity until last night. I did not follow the recipe to the letter however (This is the site I used)  as the recipe I used had called for four cloves of garlic (one is plenty) and carrots and peas (which I fully believed that we had but couldn't find, so used zucchini instead)

It turned out pretty good. Healthy, but good. Roland actually had seconds. It is the first dinner I have ever made that both of us have liked.

Flies by Day, Mosquitos by Night

         I have always hated flies.  Annoying creatures that buzz around my face and land their teeny legs on my skin to share their germs.  My idea of hell consists of non-dying flies.

         Mosquitos never bothered me quite so much when I was single.  They loved my brother, Patrick.  I could stand next to him anytime the mosquitos were out and never be bitten.  He could even be doused in an entire can of repellent and I with nothing, and the mosquitos would still go after him.  I had actually convinced myself that mosquitos actually died on my blood.

         During the last five years or so, my blood must have improved in taste – or else the mosquitos are just getting more desperate.  I know the Red Cross is.  They had also taken my blood out of desperation.  It’s never been wonderful blood like Patrick or Roland has. 

I don’t know about Patrick, but Roland gets contacted by Red Cross every two months as though it’s mandatory now.  So why do the mosquitos always feast on me instead of him?  Because he’s always hidden under a blanket while I am always exposed?  Back in my childhood day, the mosquitos would have found a way to get under the blanket to get Patrick’s blood and still leave me alone.

         I have written this post about a family tradition in which we honor Christmas in July.  Though the last two years have been in August. 

         Michelle had messaged family members on facebook to give us a date and to make/get food assignments.  Messaging is supposed to be discreet, but somewhere along the way, at least one mosquito learned of the event.

         Corey had already responded that he and Joh would be unable to make the event.  When Michelle announced that we had surprise visitors, she was absolutely right.  We were all surprised to see Joh and Corey walking towards us.

         As the food broke out, so did the flies.  As Corey and I sat and visited, we both waved our arms as we swatted at flies.  As we were waving our arms I made the comment that I didn’t know which was worse: mosquitos or flies.  Within a matter of minutes I got my answer.

 

         Mosquitos, aware of our party, must have sent out a bulletin that read:

Free Blood Banks!

Free succulent blood!

Backyard party at Michelle’s house.

Tell ALL of your friends!

Every mosquito within a 500-mile radius must have shown up to chomp on my family.  The itches usually don’t start up quite that soon for me.  These mosquitos were ruthless.  They showed no mercy.  Amazingly none of us needed to leave in an ambulance.  We’re all still alive.  None of us were devoured to death – though I think that may have been preferable.  At least I wouldn’t itch anymore.

I’ve got huge bites on my arms and legs.  One even dared bite the bottom of my foot.  HOW DARE HE (or she)!  My family was not designed to be the source of another creature’s picnic food.  I wonder how swollen Patrick is right now.  Or Corey.  He received just as many bites as I had – or more.  Perhaps all of us got bitten equally – except for Joh.  He claimed the mosquitos weren’t bothering him. How's that even possible?

If it was fat that mosquitos were feasting on instead of bloeed, I could learn to live with the itching.  All family members involved would be so thin right now.

Mosquitos MUST DIE!!!

Spending Time With My Nephew and Niece

I have mentioned in earlier posts that my sister, Kayla, is expecting her third child.  Her eldest, Anna, will be four in the first week of July.  Garrett turned two in February and B.J. will be born in August. As a result, Jenna and I have been going out to assist at least a few hours each day.  

This past Wednesday and Thursday we had made arrangements to meet the kids at the park nearest Jenna’s school.  There is a park closer to where they live, but the bus doesn’t go by the park, and I don’t particularly wish to cross the street with the two children in order to get to the park.  So Bill has dropped them off at the other park.  We can make the return trip on the bus without crossing the street.

So on Wednesday, Bill stood in line with them to get their lunch and then he took off.  After Jenna, Anna and Gary played for a while, we got on the bus to take my niece and nephew back to their mom.  The kids were delighted with being able to ride the bus. 

We made our first transfer at the college.  There are two buses that we can transfer to and so will take whichever one comes first.  We waited for only two or three minutes.  With our last transfer we did not have to wait at all.  A ski bus is used for that particular route – though it makes me wonder what bus is used during the ski season?

The front seats are designated for wheel chairs (should said passengers come aboard).  I told Anna to continue to the back of the bus and climb the stairs.  Jenna taught Anna to flirt with the passenger seated across from them.  Gary fell asleep.  I was so beat by the time we got to Kayla’s.  Jenna and I waited for an hour and a half before we got back on the bus.

Roland stayed home yesterday.  I braved it and drove the car.  Bill arrived at the park earlier than expected.  He decided that he would eat lunch with his children.  After transferring his car seats to my car, he got in line with the three kids and purchased himself a lunch as well. 

He thought his two children would be very disappointed that we were not taking the bus, but they didn’t seem to notice.  None of us seemed to be hungry and didn’t eat as much – except for Bill who wolfed down two hot dogs and juice and left to go to work.

Jenna and the other two played in the sand before Anna started wandering and started acting tired.  I took them all back to Kayla’s house and told Kayla that we wouldn’t be able to do lunch today, but that maybe I could collect them and we could ride the bus and train just to give them an adventure.

The Pantry Fairy Strikes Again

     When Roland and I lived in Kearns, we spent time volunteering at the pasta plant.  We once purchased a very large order while there.  A mammoth order actually – which was good, because it carried us through several years of hardship.

     I think it was just right after Christmas when we passed out the remaining pasta to our boys.  Within a week I found a huge box of food had been left at our door step.  No note.  No hint of who may have left it.

I didn’t know if the church was taking up a collection and Roland had given our address as a drop off – but it was on Sunday when I found it – meaning whoever dropped it off was a lot faster getting home from church than we were.  It was odd.  And so I actually started taking things out to sort them into groups.

    

It was an odd assortment really.  Bags of pasta.  A variety of canned goods.  A box of two pack muffins and some tasteless marshmallow twists.  I didn’t know if they were intended for us or if it was the wrong house or if the stuff was really any good.  It was though someone had raided their own pantry – oh, perhaps it was from one of our next door neighbors.  Because the box of muffins came with information given in Spanish, I thought perhaps it was our neighbor to the west who had cleaned out her pantry.

 

Neither neighbor said anything about the box.  I think it was only a month later when we were hit again.  Also on a Sunday.  We had survived the last food without getting sick.  But I still questioned the safety of the food, or who it was from.  When I found pudding from the bishops store house I figured it wasn’t from anybody on our street – unless it was from the couple on the corner but I really didn’t believe it was from them.  Oh, my word.

The most likely candidate I would have considered right away was Frank and Marie.  But they had moved out of our ward and are living in another county.  I think they’ve encountered more financial struggles than we have, actually. They had lived in a double-wide trailer when they first moved to West Valley.  Monthly payments became a burden and they moved from their double wide to a single.  When they moved they’d given us an assortment of food – much like what was in the box. 

When they moved a second time, it was just easier for them to part with their food than to pack it.  I don’t think we got all of it, but they did include us in the division of their storage.  Funny how I received a phone call as I was going through the storage.  It was Frank and Marie.  I asked if they had left the food.  They wanted to keep it anonymous.  They knew that we had had struggles.  They don’t know we actually seem to be out from under it now.  I don’t know if they found themselves in a similar situation.

Jenna and I were both home when the pantry fairy hit again.  This time it included Easter candy.  I’m certain that they had Jenna in mind – for they love her. Roland was certain that someone keeps leaving the goods at the wrong house.  I once again explained that I had talked to Frank and Marie and told him why I thought it was them.  How kind of them to willingly drive from Ogden to West Valley.  I sent them a note to thank the pantry fairy should they ever see him/her. 

Making Frozen Dinners

I’m not one to advocate or endorse products.  I know I need to lose weight.  I get soooooo tired of all the weight loss commercials featuring Marie Osmond or Jessica Simpson. I have tasted one of the two products advertized and was not impressed.  But then there was another celebrity diet with food I have tried and liked and best of all:  we could also purchase the products at a regular grocery store.  We wouldn’t have to rely on the mail or join a weight loss club and be on the mailing list for eternity. 

Once at the store, we learned that said product was twice as much as any other frozen dinner – as well it should be.  The products offered just taste a whole lot better.  But still any of the brands added up to costly. 

We decided that we would skip the frozen breakfast and just eat smaller portions of whatever we prepared for Jenna's morning meal.  And then we began our first week of frozen dinners (which is still not the greatest way, but is the option we chose) and I’m happy to report, that even the knock off brands really did curve my appetite.  I could really feel my stomach shrink.  But my pallet really wasn’t satisfied.   

In less than a week after we started, I decided that I would just make my own frozen dinners.  Roland and I often have leftovers, and rather than refrigerate the entire lump sum, I would divvy it out into small portions and freeze them and use those as our dinners – though they might contain the same fibers that were/are needed to lose weight.

The first thing I thought of was enchiladas – mostly because I just didn’t care for the knock-off brand taste.  The thing was drown in heavily spiced sauce and I’m a dweeb when it comes to anything remotely spicy.  I have been freezing my enchiladas each time I have made them because the recipe makes more than we can handle – though I could cut the recipe in half or forth it, I don’t have a pan that accommodates less than six enchiladas.

But before I had even started the enchiladas, I had some ham in the refrigerator that was in need of side dishes.  Because we did not have whole potatoes, I had to resort to the instant potatoes or use the frozen hash browns from our freezer.  I decided I would go for the hash browns and make funeral potatoes – which I love.  At first I decided to cut the recipe in half – mostly due to my weakness for something that should not be included on a weight-loss diet, but then thought better of it and made what was obviously too much for us but decided that I would make some ham dinners (with funeral potatoes as its side) to put in the freezer. 

The enchiladas came two days later. 

I got the recipe from a sister who used to live in the ward.  She actually boils her meat (yuck!) while I steam it so that I can add salt and seasoning and flavor to the chicken.  I also add olives for variety.  She doesn’t care for olives though.  But because it’s an easy recipe as well as one that makes my taste buds happy, I tend to make it quite often.

Normally I will use large tortillas but as we only had small ones I ended up making 18 small enchiladas instead of the usual ten.  Worked out nicely I thought as I was able to freeze most of them – but only did one with the sides.  But they are the perfect size for these really small meals that I’ve been making. 

Here is what I have loaded into our freezer thus far: currently there are 10 ham meals, 4 turkey meals (that was from last night) 3 enchiladas (so much for losing weight, huh?) and one fish meal.  Tonight I’ll be making spaghetti.  I don’t know how well that will freeze.

 So here are the recipes for two of my meals: 

Funeral Potatoes

32 oz shredded frozen hash browns

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 C  sour cream

1 ½ c grated cheddar cheese

½ c melted butter

½ c chopped onion

2 C crushed corn flakes

Directions:

In a large bowl combine soups, sour cream, cheese, onions and ½ C melted butter

Fold hash browns into mixture

Spoon out mixture into greased baking pan

Combine crushed cornflakes with 2 T butter and sprinkle on top

Bake for 30 min at 350

Enchiladas

10 – 12 flour tortillas

16 oz sour cream

1 jar green Verde sauce

1 sm can green chilies

4-6 chicken breast

3 C cheese

Precook chicken by steaming meat and let cool.  Chop or shred.

Mix sour cream, chilies and half of Verde sauce with chicken and just over 2 C cheese

Spoon mixture into tortillas and roll

Pour with remaining Verde sauce and cheese

Bake 25-30 min at 350

Baking Donations: Another Fund Raiser

Ben and Khonnie Andrews are professional auctioneers – who just so happened to live in the ward where I grew up.  I remember several fund raisers featuring cakes or baked goods which Ben and Khonnie would take turns auctioning off.  It was wild.  A lot of competitiveness among certain ward members.  Some with deeper pockets than others.

 

I remember doing two cobblers one year – a blueberry and a cherry.  One sold for 35 and the other one sold at 5-10 dollars less.  And that was one of the lower priced items.  There were cakes that had sold for 80 dollars or more during various years.  It kind of put my second ward to shame as 25 was actually among the highest bids and the hand-picked auctioneer had little experience at auctioning. My second ward was a poorer area than my first homeward.

We attended an auction for the third time in this ward.  The last two times have been fund raisers for the Young Women, but last night’s event was for the cub scouts.  Hawaiian haystacks were the featured dish for all who showed up to eat.  It didn’t seem to be well attended from my point of view – well, perhaps the dinner itself was, but not so much the auction that was presented afterward.

First there was a skit about Peter Pan and the lost boys making plans to rescue Tiger Lily from Captain Hook’s lair – but they couldn’t follow through with their plans because they hadn’t attended scout camp and so were unprepared.  If we raised enough money through the auction, we would be able to send each of the boys to camp and the skit would turn out much differently – for they would have the needed skills to not only save Princess Tiger Lily, but be prepared for real life situations as well.

Jenna had gone to an auction only a few weeks ago with one of her brothers.  She is the one who suggested that we make a campfire cake – which Roland looked up on the internet and found a picture.  Jaime and I made a practice cake on Monday;  Roland and I decorated it Monday night.  It looked good.  I wasn’t as impressed with the taste of the cake.  But it did go rather quickly.  The last piece was being eaten while the donation cake was being cooked.

Overall, I liked the appearance of the first a lot better – although I did borrow the marshmellow idea from this blog and liked the way it enhanced the look of the cake.  So thank you,Jessica for sharing this. Your cake looked the most impressive. 
I think we might have found a better choice of candy as we never had a true orangish look.  I thought the flames on the second cake appeared more like Dorito’s chips with chicken pox.

Roland decided to match the price that the cake sold for – thus ours was the highest sold item at 51.00.  Had he not matched the price, the highest bid-on item would be the éclairs that went for 35.00 and apparently were devoured as the auction continued. And I think the auctioneer had actually paid 40 for chocolate chip cookies that she wouldn't even give opportunity for the rest of us to bid on.

There was a large variety of desserts and more than enough to bid on.  Some sold quickly – some not so much.  Our auctioneer has a really great sense of humor. It wasn't professional like Khonnie and Ben's, but it was fun. 

A Hodge-Podge of Family

Our future daughter-in-law has two brothers who are still living.  One lives in Texas where his wife is from.  The other lives in a posh neighborhood at the south and east end of the valley.

Yesterday we went to the posh neighborhood to meet Jeanie’s family and to have Thanksgiving dinner.  Biff had asked us to bring rice pudding – which to be honest with you - I have never had as part of a Thanksgiving dinner before.  Roland tried a new recipe (which was really very good by the way) and I found a container to put it in.

I must admit that I felt out of place offering this pathetic container as we entered their fancy kitchen and saw dozens of dishes that seemed to make the rice pudding even smaller – shrinking with each passing minute until I felt like what we had contributed to the meal had only a cup of runny rice.

 

Jenna played with boys (Jeanie's nephews) while Roland and I visited with various family members.  Not only was there family from Jeanie’s side of the family, but her sister-in-laws as well.  Half siblings, stepsiblings, in-laws, and in-laws of in-laws; we became known as Biff’s parents and sister.

I think Biff, Jeanie and her parents were the last to arrive at the house.  I really hit it off with Jeanie’s mom.  Sweet lady.  She reminded me a lot of Rochelle’s mom (Rochelle being my first daughter-in-law) and Roland said the same thing. Jeanie’s mother does seem to be in better health than both of my daughters-in-law's mothers.  She also seems to be in better health than Jeanie.  I don’t know why, but Jeanie always seems to have aged with each time I see her.

As usual I didn't have room for dessert.  And there were several to choose from. Fortunately Jeanie had made up an extra plate of pumpkin rolls for us to take home.  Her sister-in-law and I visited in front of the tree that never goes up before Thanksgiving, but it's new and was insentive to get her three children to clean the house.

Everybody was scattered.  I counted fourteen adults and four children.  Jenna was playing with Jeanie's niece just before we left.  I don't know that she was ready to go. We had both wanted to play games, but Roland didn't want us to overstay our welcome. 

We drove around some neighborhoods surrounding Jenna's schools to check out what houses were up for sale.  We didn't see a lot for Jenna was getting car sick.  Poor kid always seems to take ill during the Thanksgiving holiday.  After we returned home, Roland insisted that she go and lay down.  We finished the night with watching holiday movies. I finally had dessert.  It is so good.

Blanching Peppers

When Roland and I were on welfare, and we would get food from the bishop’s storehouse, I would bring home several bell peppers as Roland likes to cook with them and Jenna loves to eat them raw. But there were times when I sensed that the peppers might spoil before they were used. 

Our Relief Society president (at that time) was among the best (if not the best) cooks in the ward.  I remember asking her if we could freeze peppers.  She said I needed to cut them into strip and  blanch them first.  There must have been a puzzled look on my face as she continued with a definition of blanching.

I am to place the pieces in boiled water for three minutes and then lay them out singly on top of a paper towel (she lines them onto a cookie sheet) before packing them up for the freezer.

 

So a couple of nights ago, I noticed several small peppers (some honestly so small they may have passed for jalapenos or chilis)  and so I blanched them according to my understanding (the way I had done it before) and ended up with three sandwich bags full which I put into a quart sized freezer bag.

The next morning I noticed another batch of peppers on the machine – as though I hadn’t done anything.  There were probley about the same amount and sizes.  I started boiling water and cutting the peppers.  Jenna asked if she could assist.  Of course.

Jenna started slicing the peppers in round circles.  I explained to her that dad had taught me to cut them the long way.  But she’s got selective hearing and listening – like Tinkerbell does (see the end of this post for further clarification) 

Would you believe that I came home (from picking up Jenna) to find even more peppers?  Are you kidding me?  Jenna asks if she can slice them up.  I remind her to do it the long way.  For the most part the cuts have been made into circles.  I know Roland is going to ask me about it.  Oh, well

 

We still have several green tomatoes.  I had picked many and placed them in a bag.  Only a few have turned.  The majority remains green.  And we still have several green tomatoes on the vine. It's too bad I don't have all the ingredients I need to make a fine salsa.  I once tasted a salsa made from green tomatoes.  It was delicious! Perhaps one of the best salsas I've ever tasted.

Summer’s over. There’s been a chill in the air. It’s my favorite season!

Mixed Cereal and Mutant Corn

            When the boys were younger and left cereal boxes on the table, I would say to them, “If you don’t put the cereal away, I will.”

            That actually sounded great to them until they realized that I would not be returning all of the cereal boxes to the cupboard.  If there was less than a forth of a box (or bag) left, I wouldn’t allow for it to have it’s own space.  I would combine the cereals into one container.   And I would not purchase more cereal until what ALL of the cereal was gone

            The boys came to a fast realization that mixing TRIX, Raisin Bran and Sugar Puffs together was NOT cool.  (There was generally three to five flavors of combined cereals)  They learned rather quickly to put cereal away on their own.

            And then there’s Jenna who thinks having Froot Loops mixed in with Lucky Charms is quite delightful.  It’s what she had for breakfast this morning (well, knock offs of those brands anyway) Gross. 

            We took some rather lush looking corn from the community garden.  Ours was still in the mutant stage.  But our 12 kernels actually tasted better than the kernels that covered the community corn.  Ours were sweet.  The community’s looked a lot better than they tasted.

            We also brought a cantaloupe home.  I’d never seen cantaloupe with the exterior that it had.  It looked more like a squash.

            It was juicy though.  Possibly the juiciest melon I’ve had – though I’m still not convinced that it didn’t contain squash seeds as it grew.  It wasn’t sweet at all.  It tasted like a squash and melon combined.  Not impressed.  I’m NOT a gardener.