Enchiladas for everyone!

These are made using low carb tortillas.  No non-low carbers complained.  This is a very tasty dish and higher carb low carb treat.  :)



I followed no particular recipe, just tried to use lower carb ingredients. 

Enchiladas

Ground Beef

Enchilada seasoning

Enchilada sauce or crushed tomatoes

diced onion

Low Carb tortillas

Mexican blend cheese, shredded

Brown the ground beef and onion.  Drain; add the enchilada seasonings and sauce (follow package instructions if using a prepackaged seasoning blend).  Simmer beef mixture.  Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of beef into tortillas, roll up, place into 9 x 13 dish, sprinkle with shredded cheese and bake at 375 º until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

For the Enchiladas with a side of Caesar Salad, Lime, Avocado, Rotel Cheese dip and LC baked tortilla chips, see my low carb page here.

Chicken and Dumplings and Aunt Mary

As children, my brothers and I stayed with my Great Aunt Mary during the summer and after school while my mom worked long hours at a local law firm.  

Summers were so much longer back then and there was always so much to do.  Never a boring moment.  Aunt Mary would keep us busy, either by helping her or by letting us do a craft.  We made beautiful flowers out of colorful layers of toilet tissue (you could buy pale pink and baby blue toilet paper back then :)), colored on paper towels or paper plates, or made small trash cans using egg cartons, yarn, and a tin pie pan. 

 

Sometimes we even sat out on the swing and guessed what color the next car would be.  We couldn't do that today; too many cars fly up and down that road now.

 

On beautiful warm days, we played outside.  We might even help Aunt Mary hang the freshly washed laundry out on the line or maybe work in her garden.  Oh, how I remember the goodness that came from that little vegetable garden out in the back yard behind the chicken coop and shed. 

 

Fresh green beans with baby whole new potatoes fried up in an iron skillet and seasoned with bacon grease.  Ripe, red tomatoes, peeled because Aunt Mary couldn't chew the peeling, and cut into thick slices.  Slimey boiled okra, fried summer squash, green onions, purple hull peas, and in the fall,  roasted sweet potatoes. 

 

That woman had a green thumb and was always working at canning fresh snapped green beans and red tomato relish.



Lunch was her main meal of the day and in the evenings she usually had a few leftovers or some cornbread and gravy and sat at the table writing in her journal as the evening grew darker.

 

I remember as a child loving my Aunt Mary's Chicken & Dumplings.  It was always a treat when we had Chicken & Dumplings.   Thanks for the memories, Aunt Mary.  You will forever live on in our hearts and minds. 

Learn more about my Great Aunt Mary.

 

This is not her exact recipe, but very similar.



This just happens to be my daughters' favorite dish.  Rarely ever do I have any leftovers.

Chicken and Dumplings

1 (3 pound) whole chicken

salt and pepper to taste

3 cups water

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons shortening 

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water

Directions:

In a heavy pot with a lid, or a crockpot,  place the chicken, salt, pepper and water.   Simmer all over low heat until tender, about 1 hour, or if using a crock pot, cook on low until done, maybe 3-4 hours.  (My crockpot low is like medium, it's pretty hot)

Let chicken cool slightly in pot, then remove and take the meat off of the bones. Discard the bones and skin and skim excess fat off the broth if desired. Return broth and chicken pieces to the pot. Simmer over low heat while making the dumplings.

To Make Dumplings: In a medium mixing bowl, cut shortening into the flour and salt. Stir in 1/4 cup water (more if needed) to form a soft dough. Roll out dough on a floured surface, with a rolling pin, until thin. Cut into 1 inch wide strips using a pizza cutter or knife. Tear off 1 -2  inch long pieces from these strips and drop into simmering broth.  Simmer for 10 minutes with the lid off, then 10 minutes more with the lid on.  Serve immediately.

Sun Tea

My Handyman hates when I throw big jars away, or medium size jars, or even small jars.   He sees the jar as a potential iced tea glass. 

So, what else to do with his large empty pickle jar?  After thoroughly cleaning and airing out the jar to get rid of the pickle taste, I filled the jar with water, added a couple of tea bags and set it outside in the hot sun.  A few hours later I had Sun Tea.  

~~~

SUN TEA

1 gal. cold water
2 family size tea bags

Place cold water in large glass jar.  Add tea bags.  Close lid and loosen a little. Put in sun until water is dark, 3 - 5 hours.  Remove tea bags, sweeten with sugar to taste.  Stir well. Pour over a tall glass of ice.  Optional, garnish with a slice of lemon or lime.

~

Simple Suppers

Sometimes some of the best suppers come from the hands of friends and family.

Fried Pork Tenderloin, fresh from the H Farms in Kentucky and courtesy of my dear sister-in-law, Dorothy.  We never leave Dorothy's without a cooler packed with meat and jars of home-canned greenbeans and vegetable soup. 



Longing for simplicity and lacking in time, I decided to fry the fresh pork tenderloin for supper.  It's supper in the South, you know.  Dinner is at noon.  :D

The tomatoes are from my father's garden.  He delivered those to me at work, along with a large bag of sweet bell peppers.  I will slice and freeze most of those for future use. 

To complete the simple meal, I threw together some drop biscuits using a pre-made baking mix.  My girls seem to think that drop biscuits are a gourmet treat.   Gone are the days of actually rolling the dough.  Those are just plain biscuits!  Whatever they want to think.  Drop biscuits are so easy, I don't think I'll explain the difference to them just yet.

Brownies and Ice Cream

This is my daughter B's creation and attempt at food photography.   She's always photographing different dishes for my blog, so I thought I'd honor her with this post.  Great job, B - Thanks, Mom

My Grandparents - 1935

Missing for 15 years, this photo was found in an old purse of my Mom's.

 

Doy Otis Butler and Lois Alma Wells

Mom has been fighting sinus cancer since 2003.  I've been spending more time with her, trying to help in any way I can.  I was just straightening up in her bedroom a little as she took a shower.  I spotted some beaded black satin material and thought it was just a house-dress and I'd hang it up for her.  I pulled out this purse that I didn't recall seeing.  As I moved it I heard some change rattling around and thought I'd get it out for her.  She has tons of old purses with change in the bank envelopes from her working days.

I opened the drawstring on this unusual purse and laying there on top of several items was this picture of my grandparents in 1935, one year before their wedding date.   It was in excellent condition and I was so pleased to find it.

Then I spotted 2 more pictures, those in not so good shape.  I gently placed them on her bed, eager to show them to her.  As she came out of the shower, she spotted the pictures laying there on the bed.  Her knees went weak and she almost fainted because she was so happy to see them.  She had feared them lost forever. 

She told me a what she could remember about the picture.  It was taken outside her aunt's house and that they had had a spat the day before.  This might account for the slightly severe facial expressions.  I assume they got over the spat.  They were married for over 40 years and had 1 child, a daughter- my mother, Genelle.

I believe finding these precious pictures was just a little gift from the Man above to let us know that we're not forgotten and that there are moments of happiness and pleasure yet to come.

Old Fashioned Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Ok, so not a very good photo.  It was melting fast!  I really needed to give the ice cream time to "ripen" in the metal container nestled in the salty ice.  But as it goes around my house when it comes to homemade ice cream - we just can't wait! 



Here's the "recipe" I use.  It's my mom's.  That's what I always strive to do, make it like Mom's.  The only thing different I do from Mom is to heat the milk and temper the egg mixture.  Then I call the custard cooked just in case I'm serving finicky people who don't prefer to eat "raw" eggs.

Old-Fashioned Homemade Ice Cream

• 6 eggs


• 2 1/2 cups sugar


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 3 tablespoon vanilla extract


• 2 each 13-ounce cans evaporated milk 


• 1 can condensed milk


• 1 pint heavy whipping cream


• whole milk , as needed to fill line


• chipped ice


• rock salt

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add sugar gradually, stirring constantly. Add salt, vanilla, condensed milk, and cream.  Heat the 2 cans of evaporated milk in the microwave until boiling.  Add the milk a little at a time to the egg mixture to prevent currdling.  Pour the ice cream mixture into the metal freezer can.  Add enough whole sweet milk until the mixture reaches the container's fill line.  Stir.

Assemble the ice cream freezer. Add alternating layers of chipped ice and rock salt to barrel around freezer can. If electric, plug the freezer in and let it do it's thing, adding more ice and salt, as needed.  When freezer stops, unplug.  Remove top and dasher.  Ice cream may be soft on top (see pic above :D) but will be firmer near the bottom of the can.   Replace top. Cover can with more ice and salt. Cover ice with a towel, allowing ice cream to "ripen" for at least 1 hour, if you can wait!  :) Makes about 5 quarts of ice cream.

Enjoy!

Here's to the happy days of summer!