One Little Word 2013

I wasn't planning to do a word for 2013. I found in 2012 that I needed to shift words about 6 months in.

In 2010 I did PURPOSE

2011 - PROMISE

2012 - HOME and RISE

As in the past, at the very moment that I declared I wasn't going to do a word next year my word presented itself ot me... 

The word that has come to me in 2013 is RENEW

I think it's a word that can have many aspects as the year goes on.

At the present time I embrace RENEW in the context of this verse which was also the inspiration for the word RISE in the second half of 2012.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  

Isaiah 40:31

Happy Holidays

I've said Happy Holidays for years. I like it because I feel it encompasses all of the holidays of the season from Thanksgiving to New Year. It is not a slight to Christmas - but Christmas is now past. It's a touchy point for me that people will now criticize & get all in an uproar whenever I use my favorite seasonal salutation. So now that 's been clarified...

Happy Holidays! 
I hope you had a Merry Christmas.

We had a lovely day with good food, a 3 hour power outage, some nice family time & plenty of holiday cheer.

I got a new camera. I don't know how to shoot in manual mode yet. Here's my first image. 

24 Hour Omelet

This recipe has been in my family since sometime in the 1970's. The note on my recipe card says that I got the recipe from my Mom who got it from Orange First Assembly of God church cookbook, which credits the Missionette girls as having submitted this recipe. This is one of those great casseroles you assemble the night before & baken the morning of your event. For the ham sometimes I just get ham from the service deli so I don't have to buy one of those mini hams. I have them slice it very thick then I cut it into cubes at home.

24 Hour Omelet 

7 Slices of white bread crusts trimmed
Butter (to butter bread slices)
3/4 lb cheddar cheese, shreddd (this amount of cheese is excessive)

8 eggs
2 1/2 Cups milk
3/4 tsp dry mustard (don't skip this adds nice flavor to the eggs)
Salt & cayenne to taste (I never put the cayenne)
Cubed Ham

Butter bread on one side. Cut up bread slices to line the bottom of a 9x13" buttered dish. Place the bread slices in the bottom of the pan buttered side up.

Beat or whisk the eggs on their own first, get them so they look smooth with no visible streamers of just the white this step will keep the egg mixture from separating overnight.  Add seasonings to egg mixture then while whisking, slowly pour in milk this also works to discourage seperation. Pour over bread, add a layer of cubed hame & top with shredded cheese.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Bake covered with foil at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours, remove the foil cover for the final 10 minutes of baking.

Cut and serve.

Serves 6-8

Christmas Menu 2012

Breakfast

• 24 Hour Omelet (an assemble the night before  egg/bread/ham/cheese casserole)

The Feast

• Lime Ribbon Salad (my mom always made this I haven't had it for YEARS - it has a creamy pineapple layer in the middle)

• Green Pea Salad (it's warm here I'm not feeling the usual hot creamy holiday veggie choices)
• Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes (I'll probably add in some nice cheese)
• Homemade Cranberry Sauce (because the men in my family adore it & I love the pretty color)
• Ham with Brown Sugar Glaze

• Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider (nothing goes better with ham)

Dessert

• Gingerbread hot from the oven with Cool Whip

Photo is from Christmas morning 2011.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Are you cooking? I'm cooking, but I'm not cooking what I should be cooking. Here's a slide show of putting together TONIGHT'S dinner when I really should be making Turkey side dishes.
 
Happy Thanksgiving! May your turkey be juicy and your sides so delicious that your mother-in-law asks for your recipe. May none of it end up on your thighs.

Pinterest Pinning Success

I'm thrilled that I finally figured out how to again allow the pinning of recipe photos from my blog onto Pinterest. I've spent HOURS (more like days) over the past few months trying to fix this and it finally seems to be working, again.

Note: Each individual Photo to be pinned must be set as Public. I have over 1,500 photos on flickr so even though I will try to get at least one photo from each of the recipes on my blog changed over it will take me awhile & I will probably miss some.

If you run into a post you want to pin & you can't let me know in the post comment & I will try to go in & get that photo set to public the next time I'm on blogger.

I'm listing the settings I changed in case others are trying to figure this out & in case I need to make changes again - If this doesn't work for you there may be additional settings that need to be changed - the nuances of Flickr are a bit overwhelming to me. Be certain you understand the repercussions of changing any setting before you do it. I'm only reporting what I changed I'm not qualified to explain Flickr settings.

It seems the settings in question were:

1) Under Account/ Privacy & Permissions / Hide Your Stuff From Public Searches - (uncheck) Hide your photos from searches on 3rd party sites that use the Api...

2) Under Account/ Privacy & Permissions / Allow others to share your stuff / (check) Yes, that would be lovely.

3) Each Photo that will be allowed to be pinned must have its owner settings set to / Anyone can see this photo

Sorry for any inconvenience caused by not being able to pin. I had almost given up blogging over this issue because with a recipe site,    I understand that posts NEED to be pinable!

Green Pea Salad

This is a family favorite recipe, growing up we ate this rather than potato or macaroni salad. Made with defrosted frozen peas, it's cool and refreshing. Because it is made with sour cream which doesn't spoil easily like mayonnaise, it's a great salad option for tailgates, picnics & BBQ's.

Green Pea Salad

2 (12 oz) packages of frozen peas
8 ounces of sour cream
3 green onions, sliced, white and green parts
1/2 to 1 pound of crumbled bacon (the more the better)
4 hardboiled eggs, sliced
salt & pepper to taste

Let the peas defrost on the countertop, don't microwave them, you want them to stay chilled, but you don't want them frozen. I usually place 2 paper towels in the bowl with the peas in order to absorb the water on the peas as they defrost.


Place the peas in a large bowl that will allow you plenty of room to stir the salad. I like to salt the peas at this time & stir them so that the salt is evenly distributed. Add bacon & green onions and stir to combine.

Mix in the sour cream, add pepper and taste. Adjust seasonings as needed.
 
I like to add the eggs last so they don't get completely beat up in the mixing.

If you want a more attractive presentation move the mixed salad into a smaller bowl, top with an additional sliced hard boiled egg & sprinkle with paprika.

Pea salad tastes even better on the second day and will last for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.

Time Saving Pasta Tip

Here's a great time-saving tip for pasta for salads & packed lunches. A full pound of pasta makes far too much pasta salad for my family of three, but when I cook the pasta I cook the entire pound. I pour the pasta into a colander and rinse with cold water until the pasta is room temp then I make half of the pasta into salad. The second half I store in a zip-lock bag in the refrigerator. The pasta keeps in the fridge this way for a week or more. This enables me to make a quick pasta salad, a different flavor if desired, later in the week or the following weekend.

I've also found having cooked pasta in the fridge terribly handy for packed lunches. You can quickly mix up a single serving of pasta with salad dressing, or some frozen veggies and diced cold cuts, or make a quick homemade mac & cheese by whipping up a cream sauce in a skillet with a bit of cream and shredded cheese.

Pasta Mix-in Ideas - Mix and match:
salad dressing (creamy or vinegar based)
shredded (or cubed) cheese (consider Parmesan)
diced or finely sliced cold cuts (salami & ham are favorites)
frozen/canned corn
frozen green peas
grated carrots
snap peas
halved grape tomtoes
fresh herbs such as basil
cubed avocado
cheese sauce