Rain/Rain/Rain and Wind/Wind/Wind

Thats about all you can say for Northern California for the past 10 days. I know we need the rain our lake is really low from the past two summers, but this has been nuts. Plus 50 to 60 mile an hour winds we surely don't need. I feel so sorry for all the people who were affected with power outages. We were lucky we did lose power for a couple of hours but that was it. The house seemed to take all the wind just fine. It was sure nice to be in a house that the roof didnt leak.

Today I am gonna make my famous beans, this is such an easy yet soooo good recipe. You need one large can of pork and beans..the bigger the better. Two more cans of any other bean..white northern..kidney whatever you have they can be the smaller cans. As you can see this recipe is pretty much whatever you have on hand.

Cut up 6 or 7 slices of bacon and one big onion and brown them in a pan..I cook the bacon till its almost crispy then add the onion at the end. Now comes the fun part cause this is all about what you like. Add to the bacon onion mixture..1/2 cup of brown sugar..light or dark..1/2 cup or 3/4 cup of bbq sauce. To this add 1/2 cup of ketchup..1/4 cup of mustard..I just spicy brown. Then let the mixture cook for a bit to mix up all the flavors. Dump the beans in a casserole dish stir in the bacon/onion/sauce mixture. Mix it up. I then add one package of the small smokey links, but if you want to add cut up hot dogs this works well too. Pop this in the over at 325 for at least an hour and its ready...Yum

We got some bad news yesterday, my son Tim was told he had two weeks to find another job. Since he is half the house hold support this is gonna really put our house hold in a mess. I guess he will have his unemployment till he finds something but that is never what you make. He was so bummed about this he has worked for Checkers for over 5 years. His boss told him they feel he has become stagnant whatever that means. He has always taken great pride in his baking I sure hope he finds something that he likes equally well.

New Year

When the new year hits every year I make a list of projects I want to get done. It seems like so many of them never actually get done, or they get done sort of. Like a well stocked pantry, every year I think this is the year I will make sure the pantry is stocked with things we use all the time so we wont run out and have to make a mad dash to the store.

I make list of things we eat and use like paper towels..then I go out and buy these things and place them in the pantry, in hopes of having that stocked pantry I dream of. I do well the first month buy things as we use them and restocking, then Feb. hits and the weather starts begging me to get out and garden and the pantry goes right out the window.

The garden is the place I really wanna be. My mom always use to say she would rather mow the yard than clean the house, I think she passed that along to me.

So this year I will try to have a well stocked pantry and hopefully plenty of time in my new garden space. So many ideas so little time...Hope you have a list of new projects and that you find the time to finish them and still enjoy the garden.

Almost Christmas

I know its almost Christmas by the calendar and by what I see outside my window, but inside it could be any other cold winter day. We just moved, in fact we are not even moved in fully just the big items...some clothes and of course tv's and computers.

Moving so late in December has hurt our plans to decorate. We weren't sure we would get the house till Dec 10, by then it was to late to even bother decorating.

We moved from a trailer in a park, yes it was a double wide but only about 800 sq feet, to this house with over 1400 sq. Quite a difference, with the bad economy we were finally able to buy a house, the sad part is it was at someone elses loss. I feel bad that who ever had this house had to give it up and are living who knows where this Christmas. We will love this house so much and I hope whoever they were they are warm and cozy somewhere else today.

So I am sad that I have no decorations this year, so many of them are from my mom who I miss at Christmas more than any other time of year. She loved this holiday, and always made it perfect for the whole family. Decorations in ever room of the house, two trees and sometimes even three filled with ornaments old and new. Santa's on every available spot and oh the food she would cook, my dad too. Christmas was always piled high with gifts and family. I miss those days but cherish those memories. I might not have decorations of my own this year but I have those old christmas memories that I can go back to in my mind and enjoy over and over again.

Coming Home

My son will be leaving Afghanistan in about 3 weeks and should be home for a visit somewhere near Dec 5. It has been another stressful year with him serving over seas. Two tours in Iraq and this one in Afghanistan, they seem longer than a year each. we have missed him so much..Coming Home!!!

Tater Soup

I love potato soup, it can be made with whatever you have on hand, its not picky. So tonight to go along with grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches we will be having steaming bowls of potato soup.

To start with a use my big soup pot in case things get out of hand with added goodies to this dish. I cut up 4 strips of bacon and started cooking it in the pan, while the bacon was getting crispy I cut up one onion, one stalk of celery. After the bacon was crispy I added the onions and celery and cooked them till they were tender, but not brown. Once the veggies are tender I added 3 pats of butter, when the butter melted i sprinkled 1/4 cup of flour and cook it for 2 minutes.

I stir in a whole quart of chicken stock and added 5 peeled and cut up potatoes. Today I added one can of creamed corn, and about half a bag of frozen corn. Then 1 cup of milk. I added a bit of salt and pepper to taste and thats the basic soup. It is bubbling along on the stove at the moment making the whole house smell wonderful. On a cool fall day what could be better than to sit down to steaming bowls of soup and a hot sandwich. Pure bliss.

Some thoughts about Grandparents

My grandparents were awesome people, who taught me so much while I grew up. I was lucky enough to have both sets alive till I was almost 20. My granny who is my mom's mom was the first to pass. She was out riding a bike and got hit by a drunk drive on a country road, he drove away without even stopping to see what he had hit. Later he said he thought he had hit a dog. It was so hard for me to accept cause she was my favorite. I spent summer with her and even lived with her for a time when my parents split up.

My grandpa who was my moms dad then remarried two months after she got killed. I was still grieving for her and I guess it was something I couldnt accept at the time. So we lost touch till almost 15 years later. He lived to be 98. He taught me how to ride and care for horses. Him and my granny bought me my first pony when I was just 5 years old, Inky..a really beautiful Shetland pony dapple gray with darker gray spots. Many horses came after that but he was my first.

My grandmother on my dads side was a fantastic cook and she taught me a lot about cooking. Growing up she always wanted to wash my dirty face and with the help of my Grandpa Ed I would run and hide from her many times.

My grandpa Ed was my other favorite and his sense of humor..hard working and smile are things i will always remember. He let me drive the tractor..he let me pick peaches with the other workers and I got 50 cents a lug. He had cancer and died one year to the day after my grandmother passed just like he said he would. His story telling kept us laughing and I love them and pass them along to my children to this day.

Yesterday's pork chops turned out yummy. They were tender and sort of sweet and sour with the added mustard. Everyone loved them. So since I guess today I will bake a cake. Seems in all these old recipes there are more cake recipes than anything else. This cake was called Thirty Dollar Cake, just have to make it to see if it lives up to the name.

2 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup of buttermilk
3 cups of cake flour
1 tsp. soda
4 tsp. cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
5 egg yolks well beaten
5 egg whites beaten and folded in

Now for the icing

1/2 cups of butter
2 tsp. cocoa
1 box of powdered sugar
3 tsp of coffee
1 tsp of vanilla
1 well beaten egg
1 tsp sour cream

it says makes a really big cake..but no temp or cooking time so I am gonna guess 350 and watch it after 30 minute...I will let you know how long it took and how it tasted.