Joy of Country Living

Just got back from doing a little grocery shopping at Brookshire’s in Buffalo. I don’t go there often mainly because – in my opinion – they are expensive by comparison, i.e., HEB. For example, one item on today’s list was Club Crackers (David just loves those things) – I usually buy them at Sam’s where I can get a two-box package for around $4.50. Was I ever stunned when I saw the price for one box at Brookshire’s was $4.29. I don’t think so. Guess who’ll not be eating crackers this week?! That item just got bumped to the Sam’s list for our next trip to Bryan-College Station. In fairness, the cheese I was looking for was comparable to the Borden’s sale price – as was the store brand of Half & Half. And, we do like their Angus meat…. but crackers…..??

Now, another item that I think is totally over priced is batteries – particularly specialty batteries. In our case, the kind you use in cordless phones. We have a cordless phone set with an intercom that has four stations which makes it really nice – one on the deck, one in the red barn, etc. keeping us in touch. But, the replacement batteries are so expensive, it was almost cheaper to buy a new phone set… until David found the batteries on Amazon selling for around $4.00 each.     They were the same batteries that were priced around $19.00 at other stores where we’d priced them. Buying them from Amazon – he also got free shipping!  Visit Amazon to see the list of cordless phone batteries available.

Over the years, we’ve found that doing a little comparison shopping on Amazon before buying something usually saves us money – and who doesn’t want to save money these days.

We had an Omaha lasagna for lunch this week. It came in one of those ‘special’ sale packages they offer where you get steaks, potatoes, dessert and something else – in this case it was a lasagna. Up until today, I’d not tried one of their lasagnas – but while searching in the freezer for bread the other night, found the lasagna hiding in the back corner and decided we better eat it before it got too old.

Read the directions for preparing and didn’t like any of them. I find that cooking by microwave makes casseroles tough on the edge, baking in the oven takes too long – so decided to split the difference and make things easy by microwaving for half the time as directed on the box ( 5 minutes on half power ) to get it started and then baking it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees (half the recommended baking time) to finish it off. Granted this was not a recommended method – but it worked very well. So, if I’m fixing either my own or a store-bought frozen casserole – I’ll microwave for half the time and then bake for half the time – resulting in a dish that doesn’t take quite so long to fix – but tastes like it’s been slow baked.

News Flash!   If you think every ‘alternate’ method to cooking and ‘fixing up’  I do works out . . . it doesn’t.  Just came from getting a bottle of HEB Sparkling Water Beverage.  They come in different flavors and are sweetened with Splenda . . . but the flavor I picked didn’t taste sweet to me . . . so thought I’d fix it by adding a partial packet of Sweet-n-Low. What I didn’t know was that when you add Sweet-n-Low to this particular bottled water – you get a volcano. Now while this might be entertaining to those that like seeing white foam shooting out of a bottle – it was definitely NOT what I expected. I trailed water everywhere as I carried it to the sink – the whole time foam boiling out of the bottle neck about 3 inches high. When everything settled down, over a third of the water had been been converted to foam and was gone!   So, if you’re looking for a good science project – this would make a great active volcano – just be ready to mop up the mess!

My yard is a disaster!!!! We’ve got gophers running amok everywhere. To that end I found a ‘recipe’ that is supposed to get rid of gophers. I’ll give it a try this coming weekend when the yard has dried out a little. Best thing about this recipe is that it only uses home products. The recipe is below for anyone that is having gopher problems.

Mix….

• 1-1/2 tablespoon Tabasco Sauce
• 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• 1 quart of water…

pour this mixture in mole runways and they theoretically run away… we’ll see.

We don’t eat out much anymore – mainly because there aren’t any ‘good’ restaurants close by. Just fast food places that serve hamburgers, pizza, BBQ and such. To get to what we call a restaurant would take us about an hour to get there. By the time we order and drive back home – making a trip just ‘to eat out’ isn’t hardly worth the trouble.

When we lived in Houston, there were lots of places close by we could frequent – with every manner of food. At that time, one of our favorite places – although it wasn’t technically a restaurant – was Luby’s. David liked the variety of food and one of his – and my – favorites was the carrot-raisin salad. We always considered it our ‘dessert’ because it was so very sweet. We liked it well enough that I bought the Luby’s 50th Anniversary Recipe Collection. Not only does the cookbook have the salad recipe but lots of other recipes that we enjoyed and have been dubbed ‘most requested’ – like Spaghetti Salad, Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Sauce, Coconut Meringue Pie, Chicken Fried Steak, Baked haddock Almondine, Baked White Fish, and many more.

Granted, David probably shouldn’t be eating that particular salad (too much sugar) – but sometimes you need a little treat – and we still have our little treat here at home. Surprisingly so – the salad I make tastes just like the one Luby’s serves. (Note- it’s always better the next day.)

For those that might like to try the carrot-raisin salad, I’m posting the recipe below and under the original Luby’s recipe I’m placing a ‘low-fat’ version for those that are on a more strict diet.

The low-fat recipe still uses some powdered sugar – however, if you want to really trim the calories you might try using Splenda powdered sugar.

Have to say, I’ve not tried making the low-cal salad using Splenda  because some things just taste better with real sugar – and I think this might be one of them.

Each recipe should give you 8 servings.

Carrot-Raisin Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds carrots, peeled and trimmed
• 1 cup raisins*
• 1 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup ‘good quality’ mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Shred carrots using large holes of grater
2. In a large bowl, combine carrots, raisins and pineapple
3. In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise and powdered sugar until well blended
4. Pour mayo/sugar mixture over carrot mixture and gently toss making sure to coat evenly.
5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours

* I soak my raisins in water for about an hour before I make this salad. This helps plump them – just be sure to pour off all the excess water before using.

Low-Cal Carrot-Raisin Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 cups carrots, peeled, trimmed
• 1 cup canned crushed pineapple (in own juice) well drained
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel

Directions:

• Shred carrots using large holes of grater
• In a large bowl, combine carrots, raisins and pineapple
• In a small bowl, using a wire whisk mix together the yogurt, sugar and orange peel
• Pour mayo/sugar mixture over carrot mixture and fold over making sure to coat evenly.
• Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Enjoy!

 This week has slipped by so fast almost missed getting this post up!   You may wonder what could take so much time?  How about taxes?!   The first of January is always a chore since I try to get all the tax stuff together  for the last year  . . . plus I like to finish leftover filing (business and personal) and get things ready and organized for 2012.  Having two computers down didn’t  help either.  Today was the first day I’ve really been able to get back on my computer…. so it’s catch-up time.

First thing I want to tell you about is a WOW!  David got an email from a friend with pictures attached.  Seems Texas might have a Bigfoot running around.  At least you might come to that conclusion from looking at the size of that footprint. 

The photos were taken on their property in central Texas (after a rain) and not only is the print HUGE – yes, that is a yard stick being used for measuring – but would seem that whoever or whatever might also have  six toes.  After looking at those pictures did a search on the Net to see what other information I could find about Texas having a  Bigfoot and was surprised to find a website dedicated to sightings and other ‘pertinent’ information www.texasbigfoot.com – just copy and paste in the address bar if you want to read more.    I’ll be curious to hear if they have more sightings on their property.  If so, I’ll be sure to pass along the details.

Haven’t been outside much – but have been watching with astonishment the gopher or mole that has been wrecking my flower bed.  Seems he has decided to make himself a home right under one of my Nandina plants.   That pesky rascal has almost covered the plant with dirt – not once but three times this week!  I have no idea where all the dirt is coming from or why the ground hasn’t collapsed underneath the plant.  During the past week David has gone out and stomped the dirt back down twice but the gopher?  just keeps coming back.  Guess I’ll  have to get my garden book out and see if there is anything I can do to make him go away – something using household agents.

You’ve heard me say that on Sunday mornings we like a quick breakfast of coffee cake or muffins.  On occasion we’ve had the cinnamon rolls ‘in the can’ – the ones you buy in the dairy section -  and while we’ve enjoy them to a certain degree, they don’t have a home-baked flavor.  So I set out to see what I could do to make them taste better.   Tried cutting them up in pieces then baking them in a pan so they would be similar to ‘monkey bread’ – adding brown sugar and butter to the pieces.  Didn’t really care for that – bottom pieces were too brown (almost burnt) and the center pieces  weren’t cooked enough.   On hindsight – probably should have used a tube pan to help even out the heat …. but  don’t think I’ll try fixing them like that again because my second try was much better.

Took the dough and placed it in a well buttered glass pie plate with the cinnamon side up.  I then cut an ‘ X ‘ across the top of  each cinnamon bun about 1/4 inch deep.  Next placed a thin slice of butter in the middle of each ‘ X ‘.  Next finely chopped  about 1/8 cup pecans and sprinkled them over the tops.  Next sprinkled streusel (recipe below)  over the chopped pecans and baked according to directions.  When the rolls come out I have some frosting ready (optional)  – but don’t put it on the hot cinnamon rolls until we’re ready to eat.  If you put the frosting on as soon as they come out of the oven,  the frosting  will melt and disappear into the roll never to be seen  . . . meaning we’ll have to smear more on when we sit down to eat them . . .  and that is just too much sugar for us.   

Streusel is  a crumbly mixture of regular flour, granulated sugar and butter.  I don’t have a recipe for this but just mix the ingredients in a bowl with a fork until it is the texture and has the taste I like.  We prefer our streusel a little more sweet and buttery.   Typically I use about  1 tablespoon of butter, 2-3 tablespoons of flour and 3-4 tablespoons of sugar.  Adjusting butter as needed.  You want enough butter so that the mixture is pea-sized crumbles.  

Frosting for cinnamon rolls -  1 tablespoon butter softened (or melted), 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, powdered sugar and water.  Again no recipe – just add everything together until I get the consistency and taste wanted.  You would probably not want to use over 1 cup powdered sugar and 1+ tablespoon of water or you’ll have too much frosting leftover.  You don’t want the rolls smothered in frosting – just a taste because the streusel already makes them sweet – just not sweet enough for David!

Read about the ‘other’ golds, i.e., how much gold is really in ‘rolled gold’, etc. and what you need to know before buying ‘other’ gold jewelry. Click here to read more.  And to follow the market value of gold and calculate how much gold is in your 14K, 18K other K jewelry – visit this link - for online tools and more.  And finally….. if you have checked out our new online antique store – please take a minute to see what we’ve been up to.  We’ve got over 600 items in dozens of categories – adding new items weekly – and of course, shipping is Free!

Well, certainly hope everyone is off to a grand start this new year. We’d be doing a lot better if we hadn’t caught the ‘bug’ that seems to be going around. Seems everyone I’ve talked to has had ‘it’ or got ‘it’ . . . sinus and lingering cough. Thank goodness we’re on the down-hill side and getting back to normal.

They’re Back!

That being said – it was pretty much a quiet Christmas and New Year’s for us. Weather has been mild – so far – but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had to cover up a couple of plants on nights when it got below freezing. Those being the garlic chives and my one azalea.   Have to tell you that when I went out to check on the azalea I noticed that the English ivy growing around the pond looked a little bare. On closer inspection, I was stunned to see that the leaves were gone! Now where have I’ve seen something like this before? Of course . . . on the black-eyed peas . . . completely stripped, remember?     Started looking around and would you believe it, there were those same pesky ants again – only this time they were hauling off my ivy. Just like before – two rows of ants, one line coming and one going – with a whole passel of them in the ivy vines harvesting the leaves. As curiously amazing as it was to see this happen the first time, it wasn’t quite so entertaining or amusing  the second time around. So out comes the can of Raid. Being careful not to get any spray into the pond, I sprayed the infested ivy vines and then along the 20 feet of walkway where they were traveling - ultimately disappearing  into the leaves by the front porch – that area got a liberal spraying as well. So far so good, haven’t seen any more of them. But you can bet, I’ll be on the lookout when I set out the garden this coming Spring.

Lemi-Who?

Dish pan hands – haven’t had those in many a year.  But since I have yet to find a product that performs in the dishwasher like the old detergents did BEFORE they took out the phosphates - I find myself  having to pre-wash the dishes before they go into the ‘washer’ resulting in dish-pan-hands. Did hear of a product called Lemi-shine that claims to give you spotless sparkling dishes – but after trying both  the detergent and rinse agent a few times, have to say it didn’t do any better than the phosphate free products. In fact, David thought it was worse because it left a kind of film on some of the items. I’m still on the hunt for a good product and will let you know if and when I find one that actually works.

Don’t you just love it !?   A special thanks to Jerry who gave me a most memorable Christmas gift in an effort to convert this ‘Country Girl’  from an old? ‘fuddy-duddy’ to a fashionista . . . well that may be over-stating it, but I do love my feather ring adorned with colorful gems …. and enjoy looking at it each day. Only wish I were as fashion savvy as my ‘City Girl’ counterpart.