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!

Grilled Burgers and Spicy Fries

My Grillmaster lights the grill once again! 

It was a weeknight and I was wanting a simple supper, something that didn't involve messing up a bunch of mixing bowls, pots and pans, and dinner plates.  I didn't feel like the clean-up. 

So I picked up some burgers, already pre-formed!  I was looking for easy, too.   I glanced at the prices of the french fries in the freezer section and remembered the half bag of whole potatoes I had at home just waiting to be turned into delicious homemade fries.

As I went through my mental list at the grocery, I picked up some buns, a Vidalia onion, some iceburg lettuce (I know), and some hamburger sliced dill pickles, our favorite. 

When we arrived home, my Grillmaster set about preparing the grill...charcoal only for him.   I prepared the condiments for the burgers and my youngest daughter scrubbed and helped slice the potatoes for the fries.

What a meal!  I took my mom (who is fighting cancer, on a bunch of meds, and nothing tastes good) a burger.  She ate half of it and declared it was the tenderest grilled burger she'd ever had.



I know the cheese is not melted.  Poor fellow, I forgot to give it to him and it never entered his mind to put some cheese on the burgers those last few seconds on the grill.  So when he brought them in, I took a few of the hottest ones and threw some cheese on them.  

* * * * *

TIP: When we light the grill, we usually do enough meat and veggies for more than one meal.  This night we grilled a huge pack of barbequed chicken legs and some deer tenderloin wrapped with bacon to have another time.  Leftover grilled goodies make for a quick and easy lunch!

Kitchenaids and Potato Soup

Recently I've enlisted the help of my growing daughters in the kitchen.  I'm encouraging them to cook 1 meal a week each, starting out...hopefully to increase to several more in the coming weeks.  They arrive home before I get off work, so they can get a head start on dinner and I won't have so much to do when I get home.

My 13 year old chose the menu for tonight, did the shopping with the help of her daddy, and prepared and cooked most of the meal. 



Her menu:

• Aunt Dorothy's Potato Soup


• Drop Biscuits


• Strawberry Shortcake


• Iced Tea

I thought she did a great job.  The soup was very filling.  I was a little scared that my Handyman would say, "Where's the beef?" but he didn't and was very satisfied with A's menu choice.  I'm very satisfied that I came up with this wonderful idea!  :)

Aunt Dorothy's Potato Soup

8 medium potatoes, diced

2 Tbsp butter

1 cup onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups milk or cream

2 Tbsp cornstarch

celery and carrots (optional)

chopped parsley

Cook potatoes, onions, celery and carrots in boiling, salted water until tender, 20-30 minutes.  Drain the potatoes, add milk.  We used a potatoe masher to smash the potatoes and then stirred the milk into the smashed potatoe mixture.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add cornstarch and parsley.  Simmer until thickened.  Serve topped with your choice of shredded cheese, real bacon pieced, and sliced green onions.

Cheesy Potato Pie

This pie is a result of a "clean out the fridge" night.

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Cheesy Potato Pie

3 lb.  potatoes, peeled & sliced
3/4 stick butter
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 c. cream
2 eggs
1/2 sm. onion, chopped
Salt & pepper
1 c. Cheddar cheese (1/4 of a pound), grated
1/2cup mozzerella, grated

2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese, grated

2  tbsp. bread crumbs
2 tbsp. butter, cut in pieces

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Butter a glass pie dish. Put potatoes in water and bring to a boil, until potatoes are tender. Drain. Place in buttered pie dish. Dot with butter.  Top with diced tomatoes.  Mix cream, eggs, salt, and pepper.  Add onions. Spoon mixture over potato slices.  Spread evenly. Cover with cheeses and crumb mixture and dot with butter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Deer Tenderloin

My Grillmaster is at it again!  This time it's one of his specialties, wild game. 

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Grilled Bacon Wrapped Deer Tenderloin

 

1 lb bacon

1 deer tenderloin, sliced

1 bottle Worchestershire sauce

1 T garlic

1 T lemon pepper

 

Marinate sliced tenderloin in Worchestershire sauce, garlic, lemon pepper for 4 hours or even overnight.  Remove slices from marinade, wrap with 1/2 a slice of bacon and grill over hot coals until done, 8-10 minutes per side.  Serve with a green salad and warm buttered rolls.

 

Optional marinade:  Teriyaki sauce, yum!

 

Tip: If you run out of bacon, skewer the rest of the deer meat with sliced veggies for kebabs.  :)

 

Sour Cream Pound Cake

You can always count on a good friend to give you a good recipe.

My friend, Karen, comes from a long line of good cooks.  Her grandmother was a great cook and her mom is "The Pie Lady".  She can whip up a Caramel Pie or a Coconut Cream Pie in the blink of an eye.  She always has the ingredients on hand.

Karen has turned out like her mom in that respect.  She's a great cook.  This is a recipe that she shared with me recently.  It's so easy, yet so delicious!

I've made this cake twice this week.  I polished off most of the first one myself, but took the second one to my inlaws' family get together.  I had to get that evil thing out of the house!  My hips have gotten wider just this week.  I'm trying to low carb, I really am.  I try to save my treat for that one-hour span, like the Carb Addict plan suggests, but it sure is hard with this treat around!

Karen prefers the cake 'nekkid', but I made an Orange Glaze to pour over the warm cake.  Most of it pooled up in the middle, but I just spooned that right out of the middle and onto my slice.  Mmm-mmm, good.

Sour Cream Pound Cake

1 butter recipe yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1 half cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup sour cream

Mix well pour into bundt pan and bake at 325 until golden brown, 45-60 minutes.

Orange Glaze (optional)

1/4 cup orange juice
2 T butter, melted
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix together and pour over cooled cake.