Spring a Ding

I've been off of my blogging mojo lately, but I want to show you where I've been splurging.

Last week I hosted book club. We read The Help. If you haven't read this yet, go get it. Seriously. I think it's that good.

Anyway - I really stressed over the menu and decor for this lunch. This should not surprise anyone. I finally settled on a Caribbean chicken salad with honey-lime dressing, home-made rolls, and deviled eggs. For dessert I made individual raspberry cobblers, which did not turn out as good as PWs. But they sure tasted good!

The decor is something that was completely unnecessary, but something I absolutely wanted to do. I wanted to use my every day plates. They're Pfaltzgraff's Trousseau pattern. I'm completely cursing myself by saying this, but Jon and I have been married nearly 18 years, and we still have all 12 of the original dinner and salad plates. I've got 11 mugs, and 12 saucers. I'm down to 5 bowls. 

Anyway - see how there's that bit of clustered pink? I wanted to pull that out, and I had found a fun way to make napkin rings using toilet paper rolls and strips of fabric. So - I made these:

I used fabric scraps from the spring quilt top I just finished. I love this stuff. It's fun. It's vibrant. It's fresh. I wanted to also pull these colors into the table decor. So the night before book club I went through my scrap cache and put this little runner together.

I really do think I'm crazy. I don't know what happened to me that night, but I seriously impressed/surprised myself.

I love how my tablescape turned out. My cousin had suggested a green tablecloth, which I happened to have on hand. Then I shopped my house and grabbed my most springy decor items, gathered them together, played with condiment containers under the grass to get it just the right height. I also had a bit of inspiration and pulled out my pink goblets that Jon's sister gave me for a wedding gift. They were perfect!

I didn't get a good photo of the entire table because I didn't have the napkins in the rings until my friends had arrived, and by then I was too excited to get the party started. Please believe me when I say it was so pretty!

What Ya Gonna Do with a New Year?

Snowy morning - looks cold and quiet out there. Inside my house? Not so quiet...

I'm prepping for the annual Hill Family Fete. What's on my food list this year? Russian teacakes, stuffed mushrooms, habanero jelly w/ cream cheese & crackers, and pizza of course! I'm in charge of making dough for 6 pizzas and then taking whatever other munchies I'm dying for. So I'm going for sweet, savory, and spicy. Sounds like a fabulous mix to me!

Russian Tea Cakes / Mexican Wedding Cookies / Italian Wedding Cookies / Butterballs
1 1/2 c unsalted butter (or use salted butter and omit salt)
3/4 c powdered sugar
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 c chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, or pecans are my favorite)
4 1/2 t vanilla
3 c sifted, all purpose flour
~1/3 c powdered sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 325.
Cream butter & sugar. Beat until light & fluffy. Add nuts and vanilla. Blend in flour gradually. 
Shape dough into balls (about 1 teaspoon in size) and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 15-20 min. Don't brown.
Cool slightly on wire rack then roll in powdered sugar.

Sounds good eh?
Here's my stuffed mushroom recipe. I use my handy mini food processor when chopping  these ingredients.

Stuffed Mushrooms
Large fresh mushrooms, stems removed (the original recipe only called for 12 large mushrooms - the stuffing fills many more than 12)
1 pkg dry stuffing mix
1 8 oz cream cheese
1/2 pound imitation crab meat (the last package I bought was 12 oz. We used it all and it was just fine)
2 cup butter
2 cloves garlic, peeled & minced
Salt & pepper to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Shredded parmesan cheese (the real stuff)

Wash mushrooms. Remove stems (twist out) and reserve. Arrange mushroom tops in baking pan - bottoms up.
Prepare stuffing mix according to package directions.
Preheat oven to 350.
Place cream cheese in large bowl. When stuffing is finished immediately add it to bowl on top of cheese - this will soften/melt the cream cheese with little effort on your part.
Melt butter over medium heat and add garlic. Cook until soft (about 5 min).
Chop crab meat and mushroom stems.
Mix stuffing mix, cream cheese, crab meat, and mushroom stems.
Liberally stuff mushrooms (or if you've completely filled your baking pan with mushroom tops, you can spread the mix over the top and push it down so that it fills the mushrooms. It'll be more difficult to get individual mushrooms, but it'll still be ooey goodness.)
Drizzle with garlic butter.
Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Top with shredded parmesan.
Bake for 15 min (until stuffing is browned).

I've still got to go to the grocery store and get things cooking, so I'd better be headed out the door.

I hope you all have a safe, enjoyable celebration this evening. See you in 2011!

Is That Legal?

I've been trying to jazz up our menu lately, and I thought I had a fabulous idea for this evening's dinner. Years ago I remember having cinnamon roll french toast at some random breakfast place. It was divine. Haven't had anything like that since, and I wanted to make something similar for my guys tonight.

I swung into Dunford Bakers to pick up apple fritters. They didn't have any today, so I got the last 3 cherry fritters and a few pershings.


Dunford Bakers Pershing

I cut these bad boys in half (think glazed hamburger bun), dipped the halves in the egg mix, and grilled them up.

I also made some divine buttermilk syrup (see recipe below) and we sat down to eat.

Evan had taken a couple of bites, and he said

Mom? How many calories do you think are in this?!

You know it's bad when your children are concerned about their caloric intake. Good news is that no one (including me) could eat more than one slice. That was one rich, delectable mouth full!

Griffin concluded our dinner conversation with

Mom? Do they let you feed your kids stuff like this? Can they take you to prison for feeding us doughnuts for dinner?

And for your viewing pleasure... Here is the nutritional information on the pershings.

Buttermilk Syrup
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4 c buttermilk
1/2 c butter
2 T corn syrup
1 t baking soda
2 T vanilla

Combine all ingredients except vanilla in a pan. Bring to a boil. Cook for 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.

Oh YUM!!!



Brewing Napalm

Last year for Christmas my friend, April, sent me a jar of habanero jelly. Boy were my taste buds in for an awakening! I'd never had it before, and April said that I only needed to use a little bit on a cracker covered with cream cheese. I took this to our New Year's Eve fete, and it about knocked my socks off. When April said little, she meant little. Once we got the hang of it, our one jar didn't last very long.

I'm such a chicken when it comes to heat that I really hadn't planned on falling in love with this concoction, but I've had this stuff on my mind for many months. So - while preparing or fall food preservation, I decided to make some of my own. I couldn't get a hold of April at first, so I used a recipe I found online for Napalm Jelly. There is another recipe, which is very similar to the recipe April uses. This morning I made 2 more batches. Today's batches were my last attempt at making this delectable stuff. I've done 4 other batches, and there's little to nil heat. I apologize for the science project format of this post, but I think i just did my own little project. Go figure.

Just in case you're wondering, one batch only does about 7 half pint jars - so it's not a HUGE storage commitment.

Materials:
1 1/2 c Vinegar
Green or red bell peppers (April's recipe calls for 3; Napalm recipe only has 1)
Jalapenos or Habaneros (April's = 12; Napalm = 2) - both say to remove stems, seeds & membranes
Sugar (April's = 7 cup; Napalm = 6 cup)
Liquid pectin (April's = 9 oz; Napalm = 3 oz; Surejell = 6 oz)
Blender
Non-Corrosive pan
Cheesecloth (April's you pour through into a 2nd non-corrosive pan; Napalm = no cheesecloth)
Jars, Lids & Bands
Ladle

Experiment 1: Jalapenos + green bell peppers
Used the Napalm Jelly recipe I found online. Only have to boil for one minute, add pectin, and boil for one more minute. This recipe didn't tell me to pour it through cheese cloth, so the jelly is very opaque. Not much light shining through the jar... Only used one 3 oz liquid pectin. This one had nothing in the heat arena. Set just fine. Labeled it Sweet Pepper Jelly.

Experiment 2: Half jalapeno/half habanero + green bell peppers
Used Napalm Jelly recipe. April said she strained hers through a cheesecloth, so I did this. I like the translucency after this sets. Used one 3 oz liquid pectin. Set just fine. This batch helped me figure out that I like the flavor of habanero better - it's a little smoky, but it still didn't cut it heatwise. Labeled this Not So Napalm.

Experiment 3: Habanero + red
Used April's recipe for Habanero Jelly. I <3 <3 <3 the way this looks and the way it set. It cleared my sinus right out while it was boiling, so I was so excited about it. I doubled the ingredients (so it counts as 2 batches, right?), so there is lots of sweet goodness to go around. You boil this one for 20 minutes before adding the sugar. April said this calls for 9 oz of  pectin, but that set too firm for me. Guess what? Not so hot... Yummy yes, scorching no. Labeled this one Not So Hab.

Experiment 4: Jalapeno/Habanero + red
I used 3 red bells, 4 jalapenos (stemmed and seeded), and 4 habaneros. I stemmed and seeded 3 of the habaneros - one of them I just removed the stem and tossed it in whole. This one confirmed that I like the color using red bells. I happened to look at the menus included in the pectin box, and their jalapeno jelly calls for 2 3-oz pectins. I boiled for 10 minutes, added the 2nd pectin, and boiled for one more minute. I don't think I had the jars hot enough, and I forgot to boil the lids so that the glue would soften. I'm a little nervous about the seal on this batch. I'm also getting anxious because this is not setting. I don't know if I let some of the pulp slip out of the cheese cloth or if jalapenos just make the difference in color, but this is a bit redder than before. Currently nameless orange jelly

Experiment 5: Jalapeno/Hab + green
Today's 2nd batch. Until now I still haven't gotten to April's heat, so I decided to just go for it with this one. I used 3 green bells, 2 jalapenos (stemmed and seeded), and 6 habaneros. I left the seeds in 4 of the habaneros. Boiled for 10 minutes, added 2nd pectin and boiled for one more minute - then I strained through the cheesecloth and boiled the juice for one more minute. I tried a bit of the spillage after I had ladled this batch into the jars. I didn't get the punch of burn, but my mouth was warm for quite a while afterward. Same with this batch on the setting - it's not jelling. Getting anxious...  Currently nameless green jelly

So here's what I have to wonder:

1. Why are you supposed to use more pectin for this type of jelly than other fruit jellies?
2. Does boiling for 20 minutes extract more of the heat from the jalapenos and habaneros?
3. Would I be OK with the heat from long-boiled jalapeno or do I crave the flavor and a little bit of heat from the habanero?
4. Do I <3 this jelly enough to start planting my own habanero plants each spring?
5. Does the 1 cup sugar difference (7 in April's, 6 in Napalm) matter when we're basically talking one cup per half-pint jar?
6. Was my pectin expired?
7. How do I decide which jars to keep for us and which to share?

My SIL, Shaunna, used Not So Napalm (because I did share a jar of that with her) to make Monte Cristo sandwiches (except they used fried egg on the sandwich instead of coating the sandwich French-toast-style and cooking both sides of the sandwich). I'm thinking that would be an excellent use of this jelly.

Bake at 350

Bam! One day of pleasant 70 degree weather, and I've got thoughts of fall decor, harvest baking, and food preservation in my head.

After the boys left this morning I swept the front porch, rearranged the trunk and flowers and imagined the mums that I'm hoping to use again this year. Griff is already talking about Halloween, but that's the next step.

I think I'm ready to do peaches. I can feel that macintosh apple fixation coming on (looking forward to apple sauce and more apple pie filling!). My cousin posted a pesto recipe today that has my mouth watering. Funny that she should mention gnocchi in her post - I've got some waiting for me to whip up some bolognaise - a good recipe for which confounds me. Do you think gnocchi would work as dumplings for a thick, beef stew? I'm salivating over hot pepper jelly with cream cheese on triscuits. I'm just waiting for April to send me the hot pepper jelly recipe...

So - all I need is a day off, some cooler weather so I can heat up my kitchen, unoccupied counter space, clean pans and canning supplies and the peppers, peaches and apples to preserve. Hmmm...

to·ma·to

Pronunciation: \tə-ˈmā-(ˌ)tō; chiefly British, eNewEng, neVirginia, and sometimes elsewhere in cultivated speech -ˈmä-; chiefly Northern -ˈma-\

Have you ever really craved something? I'm not talking about that trellis & rose purse that was in the Tai Pan Trading ad. Nor am I talking strange pregnancy cravings (although I suspect this is similar to what's been going on). I'm talking about waking up at 4:00 am and immediately thinking - "Ooh - that sounds delicious!"

My craving the past couple of weeks has been tomatoes. No amount of spaghetti sauce, soup, or sandwich fixings has appeased. Jon took me to Chili's last week for date night. The only thing I wanted was chips & salsa (I didn't even have the queso!) and a house salad with extra tomato. Over the weekend, we ate very well with all of the Easter and Hill family "Scone Sunday" events, but I still wanted tomatoes.

I picked up some grape tomatoes for salad and ended up eating a bunch of them as a mid morning snack yesterday. I also made a batch of salsa (~ 6 cups) on Sunday morning and have eaten more than half of it already.

I had my girl part check up last week, and found out that I was extremely low on one particular mineral. Based on my craving, can you guess what it is?

Potassium

I knew bananas were good sources of potassium, but I wasn't craving bananas (except the kind that come in an Arctic Circle banana cream pie milkshake - that is some seriously yumminess) - unless they come in red, have seeds, and you can eat the skins.

I haven't been able to grow tomatoes the past few years because we haven't had a dedicated garden spot that we can keep the dogs out of. I tried patio tomatoes, and Hilo dug them out. Sometimes I really dislike that animal. This year I'm thinking about one of those TopsyTurvy things - if I can just figure out where to hang it.

New Years Food-A-Palooza

You going to a New Year's Eve party? I am! My guys and I will be adding decibels at my in-laws'.
We'll be having pizza (of course) and assorted other snacks. My contribution includes:

• makings for my favorite BBQ chicken & blue cheese pizza
• Salsa ala Joni Blandford
• my BFF's habanero jelly (she mailed it to me!) to top cream cheese on crackers
• a spiced cherry cheeseball, AND
• Russian tea cakes

How's that for a symphony o' flavors? Happy end of 2009 y'all! See you in 2010.

That's Some Pie!

Oh the symphony of flavors! Butternut squash -pecans - gorgonzola. This is one amazing pie!

I had to make two since the recipe only calls for half a squash. What was I going to do with the other half?!

I shared with my neighbor, and word on the street is that they loved it at their house, too.

To Market, to Market

Week 3! Only one more week left. This has been so much fun!

Cook Book Schmook Nook

Here's the 2nd installment...
Enjoy.

Yoooo Hoooo! (said as I open your door and allow myself inside)

You guys!

Look what I got asked to do!

My cousin, Miranda, has asked me to participate in a panel discussion about one of my favorite places - my kitchen - and what goes on in that beloved spot.

She's also hosting a giveaway... Check it out!

Yummy Fall Pot Pie - No Meat!

Butternut Pot Pie
1/2 of small butternut squash - seeded, peeled and thinly sliced
3 T butter, melted
1/2 t Pumpkin Pie Seasoning
2 T Honey
2 T Maple Syrup
Salt
Pepper
1/2 Spanish Sweet Onion, sliced
1 large Portobello mushroom, grilled and sliced
1/4 cup chopped Pecans
2 T butter
1/3 - 1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola
Slice of white cheese - Havarti or Swiss
2 9-inch refrigerated pie crusts

Mix 3 T melted butter, pumpkin pie seasoning, honey, maple syrup, salt, and pepper together. Pour over sliced squash and set aside to cool.

Saute onion in 1 T butter until carmelized. Remove from pan.

Add remaining 1 T butter to pan and saute mushrooms and chopped pecans over low heat for 5 minutes. Mix with onion and cool.

Assembly:

Place sheet of parchment paper onto large, flat pan (pizza pan, cookie sheet, etc) and sprinkle lightly with flour. Place one pie crust on paper.

Drain sweetened and sliced butternut squash and arrange on top of dough, leaving a 1-inch border.

Sprinkle squash with layer of Gorgonzola cheese, then cover with onion mixture.

Fold outside edge in over filling, pleating and pinching dough about every 2 inches. Place white cheese slice in center of hole. Using second crust, decorate pot pie using shapes, pastry "roses", etc.

Whisk one egg yolk and 2 T water. Brush over entire crust.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool to slightly warm before cutting.

Serve with a salad on a nice, sunny Fall afternoon.

Whip it - Whip it Good (Ode to Heavy Cream)

This month my book group read Saints Well Seasoned: Musings on how Food Nourishes Us-- Body, Heart, and Soul It's a collection of 37 essays from LDS authors about food. Our assignment was to not only read the book but to write our own little ditty about our favorite food. So - here goes...

A few years ago I took some taking photos of my confectionary process and was going to compile them into a very personalized scrap/cookbook, but then I found Cooking for Engineers, and the need for me to create such a book was negated. So - these photos have been waiting for my attention near the bottom of my to-be-scrapped pile.

As I looked through the photos I discovered most of my favorite recipes have a very common theme.

CREAM

Here are 10 cream trivia-related facts for my house.

1. It's in Potato Soup, Twice Baked Potatoes, Rice Pudding, Alfredo Sauce, and Cinnamon Roll Frosting.
2. I love watching the butter and cream whisk together when making alfredo sauce.
3. When Jon whips cream, he adds a little bit more vanilla than sugar.
4. We prefer our whipped cream over the spray variety.
5.  The favorite application of Jon's whipped cream is malts (at the top and bottom of the glass) and waffles.
6. I prefer the cream in screw-top containers that Walmart used to carry over the carton ones that don't reclose.
7. I liked Walmart's screw-top packaging more than Costco's.
8. My kitchenaid whips cinnamon roll frosting much quicker and creates fewer blisters than beating that stuff by hand.
9. You can make potato soup with just milk, but it just doesn't taste as good.
10. I have to hide cream in my refrigerator because my boys (all 4 of them) think they need a not-so-little bit in the center of their bowl of cold cereal in the mornings.

Now that's a samich

Boy howdy did I make a scrumptious sandwich for dinner this evening.

It was Back-to-School Night at the Middle School, so I needed something quick.

Started with wheat kaiser rolls, sliced & spread with Caesar Mayo.
Added some chopped sun-dried tomato & blue cheese. Topped it with sliced roast beef and then broiled it just enough to start to brown the beef & melt the blue cheese. I think the only thing that would have upped the taste quotient would have been adding french-fried onions.

Served it up with a dill pickle spear & Maui Onion potato chips.

Mmm, Mmm, Mmmm....

Summer Vittles

Can I just say that I hate to cook during the summer? I love to eat grilled food, but I strongly dislike the prep. I think I'd be happy to set out a buffet of fruit, sun chips (or Stacy's pita chips), olives, pasta salad (one sweet, one savory), rice (jasmine rice [I think it's 4 cups], 1 can coconut milk, and 1 can chicken broth), and whatever meat came off the grill and just let everyone pick away. Notice that I said set out. I don't want to create any of these dishes - except the rice. I can handle open and dump methodology.

That doesn't happen very often, so I have a couple of standby's for hot evenings...

I don't have a name for this, so I suppose you can call it
Staci's Chicken Cucumber Pitas.

Chicken Breast
Cucumber
Parmesan Cheese
Ranch dressing
Pitas

Grill teriyaki marinaded chicken. You can also marinade in soy sauce & minced garlic. Or - you can buy and heat the frozen, precooked Mesquite Chicken Breasts from Sam's club.

Cube cooked chicken. Place in large bowl.

Cube cucumbers. Add to large bowl.

Toss in parmesan cheese.

Add ranch dressing to taste.

Serve on pitas.

Jon and my boys (except Carson) love this. I love it because it's yummy, quick, and doesn't heat up my kitchen.

Here's one more. It's another chicken pita deal, so I don't know what to tell you to call this one.

Maybe Staci's Chicken Food Storage Pitas

Canned chicken, drained and rinsed
Fresh garden-grown tomatoes, cubed
Mayo (I sometimes use a Caesar Mayo recipe that I found in Taste of Home - see recipe below)

Mix all together

Place desired amount on a Pita and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese (the real stuff - not Kraft's processed stuff). My boys like to grate the parmesan directly onto the sandwich because we have one of those cool spinning graters...

Broil until cheese is melted.

Remove from oven and serve.

I've made this one while camping, and that worked out great - we just didn't broil the cheese...

CAESAR MAYO:
4 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese (I use the processed stuff here)
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

How about you? Have any cool kid-friendly summer dinners you'd like to share?

How about recipes for pitas? That's the one thing I have to go to the store for every time. I think I could make a good pita - or focaccia for that matter.

All Peachy

The boys and I did 9 more quarts of peaches yesterday.

The boys really got a kick out of peeling off the skins. Feels good to be all done - now I just need to work up the energy to carry them all downstairs.




Isn't this one beautiful?! Almost makes me want to pop the top and dig in.

On a Preservation Roll a Whole Month Earlier than Last Year.

It must be time to store up the nuts for the winter because I have got a serious hankering to do some food preservation...

Tuesday morning I walked 5 miles in Bingham Canyon with my friends Shelly, Sherry, and Heather. I should have known that was enough time on my feet, but I'd gotten myself all psyched to bottle peaches during the previous week. I bought a 28 pound box for $20 at the West Jordan farmer's market. I think this was a little high, but my other choice was $28 for 32 pounds. You do the math.

I only ate a couple of peaches in the prep process and found out from Jon that the boys had been grabbing them out of the garage while I'd left them out there to ripen. Well, I only got 13 quarts - not nearly enough to last my guys until next year, so after I was finished, I dashed back to the farmer's market (it's only there on Tuesday's from 3-7) and bought another box. Like I can psyche myself up for that again...

We had some with grilled cheese tonight for dinner (the boys are all about dipping the sandwiches in the juice), and all of them told me the peaches were too sweet. Dang. My FIL's peaches are always a little bit tart (sorry Dad), so I figured I'd use a light syrup (4 cups water/2 cups sugar according to my beloved JOY OF COOKING). Problem is that these peaches were so sweet anyway that even the light syrup is just || this much over the top.

Oh well. I've got another whole box to do. I'll taste those peaches first and adjust the syrup accordingly. I suppose I could make some peach jam like my lovely cousin, Miranda...

I just don't think I have enough freezer space for more jam. I did lots of batches of berry jams this year - 2 raspberry, 2 boysenberry, 1 blackberry, and 3 mixed berry using the leftovers and a bag of frozen berries from Costco. See last year's jam post in re JAM POOP and diverticulitis. Note that the date of that post was Oct 21 - I've still got a month to go...

The blackberry batch set so quickly and firmly that I almost couldn't get it into the jars. I had one batch of raspberry and one batch of boysenberry that didn't set. I called my mom (which seems to be the common trait in canning stories - having to call a relative) and asked her what I should do. She told me that my grandma would call the 1-800 number on the package.

So, after going back to the store to get more pectin (had to use Sure Jell [ok it was actually the store brand of Sure-Jell - "Can-Jell" $1.35/package to Sure-Jell's $2.63/package] because my local Smith's doesn't carry MCP) and some nifty freezer containers (have you seen these things? The 1 cup variety have a purple lid, and they are threaded on the inside of the jar so that you can easily stack the jars with a type of locking action - very swift). Where was I?

Oh yes. I got more pectin and more containers and called Sure-Jell. They told me that I needed to do a test jar - prepare the pectin, add 2 Tbsp sugar, and 1 Tbsp pectin to the jam, let it sit for another 24 hours, and then do the rest of the batch if that worked. Hah! If I'm going to go through all of that, why would I only do one jar - why not just do the entire batch? So, I dumped the raspberry jam into one bowl, and the boysenberry into another. I washed all of the containers, prepped the pectin (in 2 separate pans - 1 for each batch). Added 1 cup of sugar (that's 2 Tbsp per cup of jam, 8 cups of jam per batch, so 16 Tbsp or 1 cup - did the math for you that time 8^)) and added the pectin. The sugar dissolved beautifully, and I figured that we were on our way to set jam.

The raspberry set just fine. The boysenberry did not. At this point, I was not going to add more sugar to that fruit, so it looks like I ended up with a batch of boysenberry syrup.

I gave a jar of each to Mindy, Griff's daycare lady, and she gave me a bottle of peach-raspberry. She didn't even use pectin in hers. She had a recipe that used unflavored gelatin! What part of Idaho did she come from???

So - now I'm sitting here nursing the blisters on the back of my feet from Tuesday's walk, finally able to walk up and down the stairs without my hips screaming in agony, feeling the pressure of that other box of peaches, and mysteriously still wanting to do applesauce.

I found a source for macintosh apples in Logan, and I get to call on Monday to find out when they're ready.... Oh the anticipation.

Now if I could only figure out my Grandma Egan's chili recipe and bottle up some of that. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Apple Pie and Ice Cream

Four more days till the bi-annual Nathan Hill fam reunion. We are so excited!

Right now all but one of Jon's siblings are in town. We're also missing one more bro-in-law. They all get here on Wednesday. Jon's 3 sisters and their fams are living at Mom & Dad's house. The place is C R A Z Y! There are 21 people living in that house! Those of us not inhabiting the nest often do not want to miss out on the fun. We can most likely be found there as well.

Just last night my own hubbie threw an amazing pity party and demanded that we have home made ice cream and applie pie. Sheesh! His sisters were kind enough to inform me that of all the brothers, his nagging has changed the least since he was younger. They shared stories of him whining to get his scout badges sewn onto his uniform and his mother finally hiding his shirt so that he'd leave her alone. I can actually hear the vocal inflections that he would have used to try to get her to do it for him (this is me shaking my head and rolling my eyes).

Anyway - Jon, the boys, and I pulled out around 11:00 last night - leaving the mess for his sisters to clean up. Griff and Ev fell asleep almost as soon as they were in the car - tummies very happy and smiles (and not a little dirt) on their faces. It was a great evening.

Honestly, thank you Mom, Val, Becky, Debbie, and Tash for throwing things together and allowing Jon a snippet of his past that he "could share with his 3 sons in the back". He talked about it all the way home. Thanks also for enduring Dad's bellering when he thought you weren't doing the ice cream right. (If it's any consolation - he offered to add sour cream, chili, peas, or potatoes to my alfredo sauce the night before). Gotta love Nate and Jon, huh?

One more thing - in all of our years together Jon has never requested home made ice cream or apple pie at our abode. It's something he thinks doesn't cook right unless it's done at Mom & Dad's.

Waxing Domestic

OK, maybe it's the time of year, the state of disorganization in my house, or the nagging from my guys because we've been out of their favorite home preserves, but something besides thoughts of dear Martha being sprung from her iron-barred cell a while back had me turning into quite the domestic diva. (I probably shouldn't mention that the diva part possibly came from letting my happy pill Rx expire without having a refill on hand...)

Jon has diverticulitis (say that 3 times really fast!) so he isn't supposed to eat seeds (apparently his definition of seeds doesn't include those from sunflowers). Being the loving wife that I am, I make him jelly instead of jam so that none of those pesky berry seeds can get stuck in his diverticulii. This year I did 4 (yes, count them) batches. I used the frozen triple berry mix from Costco and fresh strawberries. The frozen berry mix made almost two batches, and then I had 2 of strawberry. I make freezer jam after running the fruit through the strainer. My boys have disgustingly named the leftovers (skins, seeds, etc) JAM POOP, but I suppose it is an accurate description. I used a different type of pectin - specifically for freezer jam, that only called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Made for some mighty tart syrup. I say syrup because it didn't set as firmly as I'd have preferred. It's more viscous than syrup, but it isn't what I'd call jam either. Grr. Jon and Carson figured out that if you mix it with butter, cream cheese, or peanut butter before you spread it, then you don't notice the irregular consistency. The strawberry stuff turned out all right because I used different pectin in those batches, but the triple berry is my favorite blend, and it's not so good.

Next in line was carmel popcorn. Think I was a bag or two short on the popcorn, becauth thith sthtuff wath thticky! (apologies to my speech pathologist cousins Mandy and Kirsten) Carson ended up bagging it up and handing it out to buddies at the bus stop. I've had requests from these buddies to make them another batch. Gotta love when the guilt trips are coming from outside the walls of your own home.

Thirdly came the applesauce. Notice that it's in quart jars - not the pints that my mom and grandma always made. My kids inhale this stuff so it's just not worth piddling with small quantities.

I have a fond story about my applesauce - go ahead and skip a few paragraphs if you're short on time. When I was pregnant 8 years ago with my dear middle son, Evan, I craved Grandma Egan's applesauce something fierce. There was just something about that craving that no store-bought brand could quench. So, I set out to find the recipe for Grandma's Applesauce. I called my mom, my aunt Nina, my grandpa, and my great-aunt Ione. When I'd tell them what I was looking for, every single one of them said, "Honey, it's just applesauce!" OK - maybe they didn't say, "honey", but play along with me. Then I got involved in discussions with 4 people who I didn't talk to often enough. Somewhere in the scheme of things, one of them mentioned that Grandma used Wealthy and Macintosh apples. Hah! A lead!

I called the remaining orchards in the Salt Lake/Kaysville/Brigham City area and found that NONE of them grow Wealthy or Macintosh apples. YIKES! Having the inquisitive mind that I do, I wanted to know why and where I could still locate a grower, so I called the USU Extension Office and my favorite nursery. They told me that Wealthy and Macintosh apples are old varieties that are not drought or disease resistant, and if orchards are still producing and haven't been taken over by housing developers (OK that last part was me - so sorry - I digress) most growers have phased them out. My kindly mother informed me that this is why my grandparents helped her plant a Wealthy tree in the back yard at our old house. Did she mention this when she moved out? NO! I'm sure I could have paid my brother and persuaded my hubby to dig the thing out and transplant it...

So, we were down to just Macintosh. my mom finally took pity on me and said that she'd get the apples. (She found a grower somewhere south of Provo) We made lots of pints of sauce that year (this was when I discovered that pints wouldn't cut it for the Hill boys) and I did indeed find out that IT WAS JUST APPLESAUCE.

Anyway. This year's crop of macintosh apples were not as red as they typically are. So, I ended up with regular looking applesauce. My niece, Courtney, will be thrilled. She won't touch my other stuff because it isn't the right color. Little does she know...

My boys couldn't wait for me to put the applesauce in jars. They had large bowls of the stuff and kept taking spoonfuls out of the bowl where I'd mixed in the sugar. They figured out that not only do they like lots of applesauce when it's eaten, they now prefer it warm. So we pop the lid on a jar and stick it in the microwave prior to sitting down for lunch or dinner or breakfast or after school snack or what can I eat until mom has something on the table for dinner snack or ....

Thinking you've completed reading about my domesticity? Take heed - I'm only about half way through the list of what I've done this fall, but I'm tiring of blogging for the day.

I'll conclude with a bullet list of the remaining adventures.

• Pizza using Grandma Hill's dough recipe - this stuff also made yummy flavor-enhanced french bread. The boys and I rolled it out, spread on some olive oil, sprinkled on some garlic powder, and then topped it with either Italian herbs or parmesan cheese before rolling it up and putting it in the oven. Delicious!
• Apple dip - straight from Aunt Merrilee's recipe. I love this stuff so much that I'll eat it by the spoonful without any apples! Griff thinks it's some kind of cake batter or cookie dough, so he digs in right along with me.
• Cookies - we've made peanut butter (from Gayle Warren's recipe), chocolate chip (my friend, Kerri Hernandez's recipe), and pumpkin chocolate chip (right out of the bag from Lehi Roller Mills).
• Today we're having homemade chicken noodle soup. It'll go nicely with the snow we woke up to this morning. We're making the noodles with the pasta maker as soon as I get out of the shower and my guys are finished with the 3rd installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy that they started yesterday afternoon. It'll simmer this afternoon and be ready when we sit down for a toasty dinner.

I think the thing I enjoy most about all of this is the time I get to spend with Jon, Carson, Evan, and Griffin while I'm doing it. It's not a time to clean up or worry about what the rest of the house looks like or how much I still have to do on that next report for work. It's just time to get busy and create a smile or four.