Blog Surfing

Closet Cooking has a recipe for BBQ Chicken with Blue Cheese Slaw Wraps. They look really good and it would be a great way to use up leftover chicken. Here is the recipe for Blue Cheese Cole Slaw and BBQ Sauce.

Cookie Madness has a recipe for Bran Muffins that has been scaled down in size to make 8 muffins. It has lots of spices, buttermilk, white whole wheat pastry flour and molasses, so it has lots of fiber and is a healthier choice for a muffin.

Cookin' Canuck has a recipe for Quinoa with Black Beans, Corn, Chipotle Pepper with a Lime and Honey Dressing. This is low fat and vegetarian with plenty of protein. If you like to cook and eat quinoa, you will find several more quinoa recipes listed underneath this one that sound really good.

"Ditch the box and never look back brownies!" Isn't that a great name for Brownies? I couldn't resist putting this recipe here. Thanks to Cooking During Stolen Moments.

This Spicy Sesame Noodles with Roasted Chicken looks like a perfect weeknight dinner. Thanks to For the Love of Cooking.

I found this recipe for Berry Chicken Salad on Taste of Home's post on Facebook. When I saw goat cheese, I knew I had to try it! They also have a link on this page for Berry Chicken Salad for two!

This article is from the New York Times, dated May 16, 2010, regarding Food Allergies. This is what caught my eye, "Just because someone shows sensitivity to a certain food allergen does not mean that person will have an allergic reaction to eating that food." With the increase in food allergies, if you are concerned, this is worth reading.

I was recently reading about Sunspire Natural Chocolate, found their website and ended up buying a few things from them, chocolate of course! I bought some of their chocolate chips for baking, so I am interested to see if their products are as good as the reviews I read.

I couldn't resist these instructions for Bacon Making. This was posted on Facebook by Taste of Home.

How about Homemade Deodorant? This was posted by a friend on Facebook. It looks really interesting. I just might give it a try if I ever run out of things to do.

The following information from Simple Bites shows how to Make Homemade Jam in 30 minutes with no special equipment!

I couldn't resist posting these amazing Miniature Foods created by a French artist. It makes my eyes, neck and back hurt just looking at them. I'm afraid that I would never have the patience to create art that small.

101 Cookbooks posted a recipe for Baked Donuts. This is a recipe you can make the night before and bake them fresh in the morning for a special breakfast/brunch.

If you like Chick-fil-A, you can get one of their new Spicy Chicken Sandwicheg5es between May 31 and June 5th. The catch is that you need to make a reservation starting on May 24th. If you have a Chick-fil-A in your area, you should check this out and reserve your sandwich. This sandwich won't be on their menu until June 7th.

These Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos from Our Best Bites sound good. The filling can be made ahead. Serve it with salsa and guacamole and you have a fairly easy appetizer or healthier snack.

Family Dinner

I recently found one of my first cookbooks, given to me for Christmas in 1971 by my then future sister and brother-in-law. It was "Betty Crocker's New Good and Easy Cookbook." It is completely battered and bruised from all the use it has had in the 70's and 80's. I was sorry to see that the first inside page was missing so I don't know the year it was published.

I was recently planning a family dinner and I thought our grandsons might like Swiss Steak. It always turns out very tender and flavorful. I had to search a little to find my old cookbook that had the Swiss Steak recipe that I had made for my family for many years. It was buried behind my newer cookbooks. I took the time to look through it and I found so many pages that I had cooked from. Believe me, the pages are dirty, discolored, torn, etc. from many hands touching them through the years. I came across the recipe for Butter Dips and decided to make those for the boys also. Our kids loved them when they were young.

When I buy the round steak, if it hasn't been put through the tenderizer, I ask the butcher to do it for me. First I cut them into serving sized pieces and then I dredged in the seasoned flour. I heated olive oil in a dutch oven and pan-fried them until brown. I removed them and put them in a covered baking dish. I sliced an onion and put the onion around the meat and then poured the liquid over it. I covered it and put it in a 325 degree oven for 2 hours. I then turned the oven down to 200 degrees for a half hour and then I turned the oven off and left it in the oven until I was ready for it. It was super tender and very tasty. Our daughter said that it tasted just the way she remembered it when she was growing up. And the boys liked it too!

For the butter dips, I mixed up all of the dry ingredients and let it sit until I was ready to make them. I added the milk, stirred them and kneaded them a few times and rolled and cut them into strips. They bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a 425 degree oven. The boys really like those too!

I also served garlic mashed potatoes and spiced carrots. For dessert, I wanted to make something that was small and had berries, because the boys are crazy for all types of berries. I found this recipe for Fresh Berry Upside Down Cakes at the Tasty Kitchen website. They came together fairly fast and I baked them earlier in the afternoon. The recipe made a dozen so most of them were wrapped up and put into the freezer for another time.

No one left hungry so it was a successful dinner and we had lots of fun together!

Enjoy!

Almond Coconut Granola

Have you ever had one of those days when everything you try to do doesn't work out? You try to start a project you planned and find you are missing something you? Everything you try to do would need a trip to the store and you just weren't planning on a shopping trip? I finally decided I would make some granola and then, or course, I was missing the coconut oil that I wanted to use. Rather than give it up, I started looking through my granola recipes to find one that I had all of the ingredients on hand to make. Well, I was missing something on every recipe, so I decided to improvise and use the ingredients that I did have.

I found a basic granola recipe and started adding to it until I had what I though would work together. Instead of using vegetable oil I used olive oil. I replaced the maple syrup with a combination of honey, coconut syrup and some vanilla. It looked quite wet when I poured it onto the baking pan so I hoping it would turn out. 

Yes, it turned out great! When the dear hubby came home and tried it, he gave it an A+! Yeah! I was able to start and finish a project, and it came out better than expected!

Enjoy!

A Day at the Aquarium of the Pacific

Our grandson's are very lucky boys. Their mommy and daddy make sure that they are exposed to so many different activities; art galleries, museums, aquariums, zoos, the beach and many other interesting and creative activities. It really pays to get family passes to places of interest for kids. You can visit as often as you want and the kids learn so much. Family passes make great gifts for families.

I'm very happy that I am able to join Christy and her boys on some of these trips and I know that Gramma Barb feels the same way. As long as we can be ready in record time, we are there. You know how it is with younger kids, timing is everything.

We recently took another trip to the  Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California. Wiley loves to go as often as possible. It is kid-friendly and an amazing place to learn.

 

 Gramma Barb and Wiley checking out the shark mouth

 

Wiley helping Ivan

 This is the wall of water that you see when you enter

 

 Sorry to all the Seahorses for the flash

 

The pool with sharks and rays is one of the boys favorite places

Wiley using the "two finger" touch

Ivan and Gramma Barb having fun

A favorite play area in the WET zone

Beautiful Heron

 More fish

 

It's Nemo and his cousin

 

Wiley getting as close as he can to the Sea Turtle

Wiley deep in thought

A shark

'

Sting Ray

Beautiful tropical fish

 

Lion Fish

 

 More fish

Time to leave but we will be back soon

Somebody's tired

Somebody's not very tired

Coasting & Cooking

We have a special place in our hearts for the Oregon coast. We grew up two hours away from the beach and it was always a vacation destination for both of our families when we were growing up. We went to the Oregon coast for our honeymoon over 37 years ago and when our kids were growing up it continued to be a favorite destination for our family. When we moved away from Portland 15 years ago and moved to Walla Walla, Washington, one of the hardest parts of being there was it took eight hours to get to the Oregon coast! For the first time in our lives we felt land-locked!

We moved on after two years and found ourselves living in Marina del Rey, California. That was a total surprise and amazing to live three blocks from the ocean when you consider the size of Los Angeles county and all the places we could have ended up. Most evenings and weekends we ended up at the beach. We loved walking out on the breakwater as far as we could go and back, we enjoyed many beautiful sunsets, the pelicans, the dolphins, the hammerhead sharks, the sailboats. We loved it and took advantage of every moment and enjoyed it to the fullest. We now live about 10 minutes away from the beach and enjoy spending time there.

The Oregon coast is completely different from the California coast. The Oregon surf is wild and turbulent. When we visited there, we always loved to watch the waves crashing through large picture windows, from our room, high on a bluff! This week I am featuring three cookbooks "Coasting and Cooking" by Barbara Williams. I bought these books at Allegory Books and Music back when it was The Marketplace at Salishan. They are filled with recipes from notable restaurants along the Oregon and Washington coast. I did most of my cooking from them in the nineties as well. I do not know if these dishes are still being served at any of these restaurants.

There are three versions of "Coasting and Cooking," so I am posting a picture of the cookbook that contained the following recipes. The picture on the front is different on each book as well as the recipes inside. They were all published in the 1990's. It has been a long time since I have made most of these recipes, but they are tried and true and are worth sharing.

This first recipe comes from The Polynesian Resort in Ocean Shores, Washington. This Green Pea Salad is really easy to make and is a great recipe to make ahead for a picnic. I use real bacon crumbles rather than bacon bits.

This recipe is from the Sound Food Restaurant in Vashon Island, Washington, which has had a rebirth with in the last few years according to this article. This recipe is for Sour Cream Lime Pie. It is very good but also very rich.

This recipe is from Granny's Pantry in Silverdale, Washington. I couldn't find any evidence of it being in business now. The recipe I'm posting is for Carrot and Zucchini Muffins which are very moist and full of flavor.

The next two recipes are from Dooger's Seafood and Grill  in Cannon Beach, Oregon. This has been a favorite spot in our family for many years. My parents recently took a trip to Cannon Beach and enjoyed their favorite clam chowder. It's hard to resist their warm Marionberry Cobbler Ala Mode for dessert. If you are ever near Cannon Beach, Oregon, you should drop by for some chowder. I have made their chowder recipe with fresh clams and canned clams. We prefer the fresh clams.

Marionberries, fresh or frozen, are hard to find, especially in Southern California. If you can't find them in your area, blackberries will work just fine.

This recipe is from  The Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook Oregon. They are a huge tourist destination for their cheese samples and Tillamook ice cream cones. This dish makes a nice lunch or dinner with a crisp salad.

This recipe is from Salishan Lodge in Gleneden Beach, Oregon. These Apple Oatcakes are like apple oat pancakes but really good. You can keep this mixture in the refrigerator for two weeks so you can make them fresh when needed.

This recipe is from The Sea Hag in Depoe Bay, Oregon. They are famous for their clam chowder and their Friday night Seafood Buffet. This recipe for Halibut Parmesan takes a few minutes to make and the fish stays very moist. If you don't have an electric skillet you can also use a large skillet.

This final recipe is from La Serre Restaurant in Yachats, Oregon. The first time we ate dinner here, we had these Clam Puffs and they were so good. If I like something that I have eaten at a restaurant I ask the waiter if the chef shares the recipe. It never hurts to ask because I have been given many recipes through the years because I sent compliments to the chef and because I asked! In this case, I was told it could be found in this cookbook, so that is when I began my search. I was really happy when I found this cookbook with this recipe. I have made these for years as appetizers for Christmas, New Years and other occasions. They are made ahead, frozen and baked when needed.

Enjoy!

Homemade Tortillas

While paging through the June/July Taste of Home magazine, I found a recipe for homemade tortillas made with olive oil. I had not made them for many years so we decided to make them for dinner. We had some chicken breasts defrosted, so a menu plan began to develop.

First I started making Funky Refried Beans, our new favorite way to have refried beans. I had never considered making refried beans, but when I found this recipe a few weeks ago on Tasty Kitchen, I had all of the ingredients so I decided to make them. They are very easy and you need to allow about 20-30 minutes to make them.

In a skillet with a tablespoon of oil, you saute half of an onion until translucent and then you add the chili powder. Note: The recipe calls for making it in a saucepan with a lid but I found it worked just as well in a skillet and it took less time to reduce the liquid. They were just as tender and the beans were when I simmered them in a covered saucepan.

About the chili powder, the recipe calls for New Mexico Chili Powder but I only had regular chili powder the first time I made them and the flavors were really good. I have looked at several stores, including Penzy's and have not been able to find it. I found McCornick Brand Hot Mexican-Style Chili Powder so I bought it and used it for this last batch and they were great. New Mexico Chili Powder is available at Amazon.com, so I plan to buy it there next time I place an order. In reading about the differences in  chili powder flavors, the flavor will be a lot different from the two that I have used so it will be interesting to try. In my opinion, both of the chili powders that I used were great and make these refried beans really good, so use whatever chili powder you have.

Next, you add a can of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies and a can of Ranch Beans with a quarter cup of water. You bring it to a simmer, cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. I didn't cover mine and they turned out great. Next you use a potato masher and mash them until they look like refried beans. If it has too much liquid, simmer without the lid until they are the consistency that you prefer. It's that easy. 

The beans while they are simmering

This is the beans with some Monterey Jack cheese melted on them. As you can see, this recipe doesn't make a huge amount. This is a 3-cup bowl and it's not full.

Next, I mixed up the tortilla dough. I used 1 cup of White Whole Wheat Pastry Flour and 1 cup of all purpose flour. The dough was too wet and needed more flour. I'm not sure if it was because I used the whole wheat flour or not. The Dear Hubby kneaded the dough and rolled out three tortillas. The recipe makes eight so we have five in the refrigerator for another time. I sprayed the pan with Pam and cooked them for 1 minute on each side.

 One of the tortillas before cooking

Here is the recipe for the tortillas.

 

Dear Hubby grilled the boneless skinless chicken breasts on the grill with a little barbecue sauce and this is what we ended up with for dinner.

 

We spread some of the refried beans on the warm tortilla, sprinkled a little shredded cheddar cheese on top, shredded barbecued chicken on top of that, and then we added avocado and tomato and a dollop of non-fat sour cream to top it off.

My Spider Diary

Update: May 15, 2010

Day 57

I am updating my spider journal again, in hopes that someday I can figure out what it was that bit me. It has now been eight weeks since the bites and in the past week more swelling has gone down. I can now see a small scar that had not been visible since the bites. It is located about an inch away from the bottom bite.

Two weeks ago I took pictures of the scars. There was still plenty of redness inside the holes, and I still had swelling around my eyes.

 This picture taken two weeks later on May 15, 2010.

As you can see, there is some puffiness around the bite area and the holes are getting deeper and narrower the more the swelling goes down. This is the first thing that people notice now when they see me. Most people don't say anything but I'm glad to talk about it to anyone that has asked about what happened.

I'm hoping that someone who knows about spider/insect bites will see this and shed some light on what it might have been that bit me. I'm convinced that these holes are not going to be filling in with tissue as the doctor said because the tissue inside has healed.

Updated: April 12, 2010

Day 22:
My spider bite saga continues, so I am going to keep on documenting it here. When I first got these three bites, I wish there had been a place for me to check in and see how long this whole thing was going to take to heal up, what kinds of symptoms to expect, and how big my scars were going to be. I never expected that it was going to be such a long, drawn out process!

I am very happy to say that I have not see any spiders. I'd like to think that it's because of the electronic insect repellent devices working really well, but I didn't see any spiders before my bites, so I'm not sure where that leaves me. I'm still sleeping better knowing that they are there. Sometimes at night when everything is quiet, I'm sure that I here them humming, but I should probably see a Dr. about that!

WARNING: The following picture was taken on Day 22. I'm warning you, it looks really gross!

As you can see, the top scab has come off but I'm still carrying around the two largest ones.

Wiley sits on my lap with a very concerned face, while looking at my scabs and says, "Why did that spider bite you, Gramma?" I tell him I don't know why that spider bit me. "But why, Gramma? Why did he bite you? I don't like that spider, Gramma!" I agree with him that I don't like it one bit either. "But why, Gramma? Where is he now, Gramma! I don't like that spider to bite you Gramma! How did it get in your house?" All that love and concern makes me feel so much better as I'm carrying these scabs along with me, everywhere I go!! 

Day 24:

I'm  very happy that the final two scabs fell off today, but I was shocked to see how big the holes/scars were! I'm hoping that over time they fill in a little more, but then, I'll just have to take what I get, won't I!

 

As you can see, there is still some swelling and redness involved. At least there isn't any pain at this point. I'll post another update in a couple weeks and I'm hoping it will be better by then!

Originally Posted April 1, 2010

My Spider Diary

Thirteen days ago, I woke up with a huge, elongated bump on my forehead. It hurt like crazy! I couldn't figure out what had happened. It continued to grow and hurt more over the course of the day and so I decided that I had to go get it checked the next day, a Saturday morning. My dear hubby left the house at 7:15 to get my name in early when the Urgent Care opened at 8am. I cruised in at 7:55am and thanks to him was the first one to check in and the first one to be seen by the doctor.

When the Dr. came in he wasn't sure what it was. He looked with the large magnifying glasses and still wasn't sure what it was...other than large, inflamed and very red! He sent me home with antibiotics and told me to check in with my Dr. on Monday if it got worse. Fortunately, he gave me a wide range drug that would cover just about everything possible. The pain grew steadily worse, and it seemed to keep growing. 

Sometime during the weekend I began to wonder if it was some kind of a bite, specifically, a spider bite. Just the thought of a spider being on my face, that close to my eyes, made my skin crawl, but I knew with every hour that passed that something really intense was going on. The swelling had a definite bordered edge, like my body had walled off some serious poison. I had a bad headache and the intense itching/pain/swelling was not letting up for even a second, it was constant throbbing pain.

Day 1: Friday, March 19th - Woke up with a large elongated weld. Very painful. Put Clinique Acne Solutions on it thinking it was a super large boil. More pain than itch.

Day 2: Saturday March 20th - Went to Urgent Care. I couldn't tell if it was a bite or a boil, or something else. Started antibiotics and Benadryl. Intense pain and itching in spit of Benadryl. Said follow up if it gets worse.

Day 3: Sunday, March 21st - Intense pain and itching. No let up. Still very swollen. Headache.

Day 4: Monday, March 22nd - Intense pain and itching. No let up. Headache. Forehead and eyes very swollen.

Day 5: Tuesday, March 23rd - Pain and itching still very intense. No let up. Headache. Very swollen and two black eyes. The holes are starting to emerge from the swelling. I can see 2 distinct holes.

Day 6: Wednesday, March 24th - Today I can clearly see that there are actually three holes and it definitely looks like bites. A little less pain but lots of itching. In afternoon, started itching on face, neck, shoulder and upper body. Uncontrollable. Some if it was topical, but most is under the skin intense itching. It lasted for 4-5 hours. Went back to Urgent Care and Dr. agreed, it was three distinct bites. Very unusual to see three bites clustered together. Said the venom was being released into my system. Said it could take up to 10 days to get out of my system. Changed the drugs, wanted to give me a shot and Vicodin for the pain. I said no thanks. Good thing, he looked it up on the computer and said I couldn't have the shot. Extreme itching.

After I got back from the Dr., I decided I would finally take a picture:

The picture doesn't indicate the depth of the bites!

Day 6

This isn't my best look with the puffy eyes and face!

Day 7: Thursday March 25th - Really low energy, headache, itching. Took pictures. Arms, chest and neck covered in rash. Felt like I was coming down with something all day.

Day 8: Friday, March 26th - Headache all night. Woke up nauseated and bad headache. Still itching and rash.

Day 9: Saturday, March 27th - Headache, nausea, still itching, rash starting to subside.

Day 10: Sunday, March 28th - Headache, nausea, still itching, looks like it is starting to heal over, rash all but gone.

Day 11: Monday, March 29th - Headache, itching is less, definitely starting to heal, swelling is starting to go down.

Day 12: Tuesday, March 30th - Took the last antibiotic. Holes are covered with scabs. Very little itching or pain.

Day 13: Wednesday, March 31st - First day without a headache. no itching or pain. There is still a little swelling, but not bad.

Decided to take another picture. This is what it looks like today:

Day 13

The Dr. says I won't have scars. That is yet to be determined!

 

I now feel like I have the worst behind me. I will be honest about one of the hardest parts of this whole thing. I had a hard time sleeping in our bed. I knew it had happened there and wasn't wanting it to happen again. Just the thought of that spider being on my face, right between my eyes...it has been a hard image to deal with and I have slept most nights with the sheets over my head! The Dr. told me that spiders are not aggressive unless the feel threatened. I will never know what I did to that spider in my sleep but I hope he is sleeping with someone else and doesn't ever come back!

At a friend's suggestion, my husband picked up a three pack of Black and Decker plug-in electronic pest repellent devices and we plugged in all three! I actually slept better last night, knowing that they were there!

This is my last post until after Easter weekend. 

Have a very Happy Easter!