Saturday Dinners . . .

My husband’s work schedule is not easy to follow or prepare for as it just depends on when he gets off work and how much traffic there is on the way home. That’s why I like the Saturdays he doesn’t work. Dinner can be planned and a special menu can be prepared.

In spite of the rainy season, the Spring vegetables are appearing in the stores so my hardworking husband get steamed asparagus along with sauteed cabbage with red onions and bacon as sides to a bone-in pork chop – a favorite of his. We have cut way back on carbs so enjoy the variety of vegetables appearing on the scene these days.

And, speaking of food and seasonings, I’m sold on the spice/herb store I found a few months ago. Having a choice of new and different spices for cooking makes kitchen time more interesting. The Spice Shop (https://www.thespicehouse.com/) also has a colorful catalog for a small mailing fee that not only describes the herbs and spices available, but often includes cooking ideas and a bit of history.

Nap Time Is Sacred!

Marcella’s favorite place to nap is above the headboard over our bed. She knows she looks cute and wasn’t especially happy to have a snapping camera in her face. Buster Kitten, being over 16 pounds, prefers to sleep behind the same bed which is fine with Marcella who still thinks of herself as an only cat.

Lent is Almost Here!

Planning on your last treat before Lent yet? Giving up chocolate seems to be a popular ‘give up’ for many people. Here is a win/win situation. Make yourself a batch of Chocolate Truffles for Mardi Gras to brace yourself for those forty ‘no chocolate’ days ahead. It gives you a chance to try the recipe and a recipe to think about making for Easter.

Easy Chocolate Truffles

1 1/2 sticks butter (margarine will NOT due!)
1/4 cup baking cocoa powder
1 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons of rum (You can use flavoring extract)
1 cup finely chopped pecans – which will be divided.

Melt the butter in a pot and stir in the cocoa until combined and smooth. Stir constantly while slowly pouring in the condensed milk. Continue cooking and stirring for about five minutes more until smooth and thickened a bit. Remove from the stove and stir in the rum and 3/4 cup of the chopped pecans.

Pour mixture into a baking pan and refrigerate until mixture is firm enough to hold its shape. With either a small cookie scoop or tablespoon, remove spoonfuls of the mixture from the pan and roll into small balls -3/4th to 1-inch balls. Roll each ball into the rest of the chopped pecans and place on a plate and refrigerate at least two hours before serving.

Idea:

You don’t have to go with rum and pecans. Walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds can be very good, too. There are a lot of extract or alcohols you can flavor it with, too. Mint chocolate?

If you don’t like nuts, make the balls a bit smaller and roll them in colorful cake decorations. You can usually find the nonpareils in holiday colors in the baking section of most store.

I like to add a bit of very finely chopped fresh orange zest to the chocolate/nut mixture.

Really want to be fancy, get some candy coating in white or chocolate and dip your refrigerated candy in that and then the colorful outer decorations. You could even drizzle a contracting bit of coating on top of that.

Next Batch of Little Dresses for Africa

I had one of those weeks where I had plotted out days for sewing but every day brought an unexpected interruption. Nevertheless, I stole some time here and there and got another batch of dresses ready for mailing.

Lights, Camera, Action!

 

Nothing that Buster likes better is posing for pictures. Today, he was roasting his fuzzy self in a patch of sunlight but when he heard me go for the always-handy camera, he stopped his nap and went into action.

Current Quotes With Meaning

Making Biscuits in a Hurry

Okay, everything takes some time but this is a pretty quick recipe to get into the oven. Just make sure you read the recipe a couple of times, line up your ingredients so you don’t have to go scurrying around the kitchen and . . . Bake!

Hurry Up Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chilled butter
1 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and prepare a parchment lined baking sheet.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Dice up the cold butter and using your hands, mix it in with the dry ingredients. You don’t want to warm up the butter so rather quickly rub the butter into the dry mix between your fingers until there are rough crumbs of it in the flour. Add the milk gradually and using a fork gently mix until it forms a soft dough.

Flour a surface and roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Don’t have a biscuit cutter? No problem! Just use a glass to cut out rounds of biscuits and place on your prepared baking sheet. You can brush the tops lightly with melted butter before putting them into your preheated oven. Bake for approximately 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.

This recipe makes about a dozen biscuits (depends on how big you cut them!) The recipe doubles nicely.

Ideas:

Add a quarter cup of granulated sugar to the dry mixture for a sweeter biscuit. It would even work for the base of strawberry shortcake.

Roll the biscuits a bit thinner than directed, put a bit of jam in the center of one and another thin biscuit on top sealing well. A great surprise to your family for a special breakfast.

Brush the tops with melted butter and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar.

You could even cut a middle hole in your biscuits and deep fry them for donuts. Toss them in cinnamon and sugar while warm. Adding an extra quarter cup of sugar to the dough will make it sweeter but I like the taste of the biscuit with the sweet coming from the coating.

My Happy Valentine’s Day!

A dozen roses found there way to my front door compliments of my husband on Valentine’s Day!

Quick Change Brownies!

My daughter made a batch of brownies for work this week. She went according to directions and went to an expert (not!), my husband! to get an opinion on whether they were adequately baked. At one in the morning, she was cutting her brownies and discovered she needed another expert but what to do now. I found her sad note on the counter in the morning along with two containers of semi-baked brownie goo. Since she had doubled the batch and used eight eggs, a pound of butter and all of my baking chocolate, I figured there had to be a remedy.

Since I had nothing to lose at this point, I put all the ‘goo’ into the mixing bowl, added a couple more eggs and a bit of baking powder and blended it until smooth and could hold it’s shape. I dropped balls of dough onto the parchment paper and flattened them down a bit with some Valentine’s Day sprinkles. They rose nicely, had a thin crust and a cake-like interior and retained that intense chocolate taste. Ended up with enough for my husband to take to work, my daughter’s party at work as well as a plate of perimeter brownies in the original form.