Category: Daily Thoughts

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Magic Masks

Chocolate Castles9 Comments

Well, I began to think last night about this mask situation. I’m one of those that try to follow the rules and do what I’m told (don’t ask Randy to confirm that as he will look at you like you are crazy for asking about that).
But that doesn’t mean that I like them. I just do it because I’m suppose to. AND…I refuse to get caught up in ordering a bunch of masks just to have some that goes with every outfit. After all, that would be admitting to myself that this is an on-going situation. Just like years ago when we were told not to get hooked on capri’s because they would be one of those clothes items that would stay around for a couple of seasons, but then disappear forever. That was in 1993 I think. Lucky for me, I didn’t listen to them. 27 years down the road and that is all I wear. Even my jammies are capris. But masks…well, I have had to adjust my thinking about them. Instead of concentrating on all the negatives about them, like “I can’t breathe when I wear one” or “they take my makeup off” or “people can’t tell I’m smiling at them”, I have decided to accentuate the positive. So here are some new ways to think about them:

1. People won’t know I’m old because they cant see my wrinkles when I wear one.
2. When I am around people that for some reason catch me in a bad mood, they can’t tell i’m not smiling at them.
3. When Randy and I are out running errands, I just look at him and say, “oops, I guess you will have to go in to get the 3 items I forgot to buy yesterday , because i forgot to bring my mask with me.”
4. On bad hair days, I wear the really oversized mask and no one knows it is me.
5. When I don’t feel like joining in a conversation (like that will ever happen), I just say, “I’m sorry, but it is so hard to talk with this mask on.”
6. When I do buy a mask with colors and designs that don’t match any of my outfits, it gives me reason to shop for an outfit that does. Even though I said earlier that I wouldn’t buy masks to coordinate with all my clothes, every once in a while it helps to use this so I don’t feel guilty for going shopping.
7. When Randy and I argue, well, we NEVER argue, let’s call it, discussing something, it allows me to have the last word because he can’t hear what I am saying if I have the mask on.

So, next time you are complaining about having to wear a mask. Trust me, I’m right there with you and will be so thankful not to have to do so. But in the meantime, keep this list in the back of your mind. It helps put a smile on your face, even if no one can see it.

Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Uncategorized

Lemon Delight

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

Remember me mentioning that I had found a Gooseberry Cookbook the other day for $3? Well, I have already found quite a a few new recipes in it that I can’t wait to try. As I sat and ate on a box of Ethel M Chocoalte’s a friend just sent me today for my birthday that is coming up, I was leafing through the dessert section this new cookbook. The intro to it said this,
“Mama heard this recipe on the radio when I was a little girl in the 1940’s. It’s still one of our family’s favorites.”

Wow, that is just so cool. As I began to read it, it sounded so light and perfect for these hot summer days. Because we have so much cake this weekend, I will wait to make this next week. But had to go ahead and share it should you need a cool dessert for this weekend.

2 eggs, separated and room temperature
2 tables softened butter
3/4 cup flour
2 tables granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup milk

Top with fresh whipping cream

Beat egg yolks in a small bowl. set aside. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; set aside. In a medium size mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together; add flour and continue to cream mixture. Beat in egg yolks, lemon juice and milk; fold in beaten egg whites. Pour mixture into a ungreased 12×8″ baking pan or individual custard cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
(this won’t take as long if using individual custard cups)Center might be a little jiggly when you remove from oven. It will finish setting up after you take from oven.
Top with fresh whipped creams and sliced fresh strawberries (i added the strawberries because I can just see how pretty this will look in individual custard cups with the cream and red strawberries. Oh and maybe a little green mint leaf..or, just the whipped cream! your choice

Daily Thoughts · Starches · Uncategorized

Homemade Spanish Rice

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Sorry I forgot to post this yesterday. When I began to look in the fridge to see what leftovers we had for dinner last night, I saw the leftover rice. IT was still very good. Isn’t it amazing that when you heat leftovers in the microwave they seem to taste better than warming food up in pans? Is it because we don’t have to wash so many dishes that it just makes it taste better? Anyway, we were both so pleased and enjoyed this rice so much, I decided that instead of buying The Rice a Roni or other brands of Spanish Rice, I am just going to make this from now on. Plus I still have about 25 lbs of rice left over from when we were ordering groceries instead of going to the store. Everytime I ordered pasta, the store seemed to be out and they substituted with rice. So if anyone is getting married and needs some rice to be thrown, I’m your girl. I will give it to you free OR…your wedding present from me will be a lifetime supply of rice pilaf, Spanish Rice, Rice&Broccoli or chicken & rice soup. Your choice…anyway, back to the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup of uncooked rice
2 teas oil
2/3 cup of Stilwell Seasoning blend (found in the frozen section of veggies. It is a combination of celery, green bell pepper and chopped onion) I use this all the time in things like this that need a little of the added veggie blend but don’t want to take the time to chop up all 3 of these)
2 1/2 cups broth. *I used half chicken broth and liquid from processing a can of Rotel Roasted tomatoes with green chilies. Pour the processed tomatoes (I just used my Bullit to process them) into a measuring cup. Add chicken broth to this to equal 2 1/2 cups.
1 teas garlic powder or 2 squares of frozen garlic cloves that you get from Trader Joes or Walmart…i simply love these. So easy to use.
2 teas Adobe Seasoning from Pensky’s Spices
1 teas dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teas oregano

In a skillet (which has a tight fitting lid), add the oil. Heat and add the rice and the veggie blend to the oil. Cook over medium heat until rice begins to lightly turn golden and the onion, bell pepper and celery are well thawed. Add the liquid and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Then turn heat to low and put lid on. Cook for 20-22 minutes or until rice is done. If you need to add more broth to get the rice done, add about 1/4 cup. Remove lid when rice is done and fluff with a fork.

appetizers · Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized · Vegetables

Fried Green Tomatoes

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This one worked like a charm. Was easy and was very yummy (if Leaanne Morgan can say yummy on her videos, I can use it on the food blog)

4 large green tomatoes
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk *I had buttermilk in the fridge, so I used that instead of whole milk)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teas salt
1/4 teas black pepper
oil for frying

Slice the tomatoes 1/2″ thick. Discard the ends. Sprinkle each side with salt and place on paper towel to allow the salt to soak up some of the juice.

Whisk the eggs and milk together in a medium size bowl. Mix the cornmeal and flour together on a plate. Dip the tomatoes slices, one by one, into the egg/milk mixture and then dip in cornmeal/flour mixture. Allow to rest (the tomatoes, not you) while you dip each tomato slice in the egg and flour mixtures. When all slices are coated, heat the oil in a skillet and when oil is hot, place tomatoes slices in the oil. Turn over when that first side is lightly browned and then flip and allow the second side to brown. I sprinkled a little more salt and pepper over one of the sides while frying. Drain if needed on a paper towel before serving.

Daily Thoughts · Salads · Starches · Uncategorized

Pasta Salad

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

Today I was going to post the Spanish Rice I made for dinner night before last, but first I wanted to post this really easy and yummy pasta salad. Isn’t it hard to think of new lunch items to make after 4 months of trying to stay home and thus, the 21 meals a week are getting a little more creative of, “what foods left over in the fridge can we put together that will keep us from having to go out into the virus laden world?” Well, ladies and gentlemen, is a really good lunch treat that took me all of 10 minutes to put together (why am I in a hurry when I have no where to go right now) and tastes so good.

Because I didn’t have any cutesy shaped pasta right now, I just remembered eating a spaghetti salad at a steak house in West Texas one year so I used the spaghetti in the pantry. Because back in March when we were hoarding any pasta, toilet paper and canned anything we could get our hands on, I have boxes of pasta just sitting here waiting to be used.

Well, here are the simple instructions:

Boil as much spaghetti as you like. I used enough to make about 4 cups of pasta salad. (now you can go figure out how much raw pasta that is because I forget to measure it)
I add some chicken bouillon to the water when boiling pasta because it gives it a little more flavor so I don’t have to add as much oil or butter.
When pasta is done, drain and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Place drained pasta in large mixing bowl and add enough Italian Salad Dressing as you like. I was so excited because I had splurged one day at the store and bought Olive Garden Salad Dressing so I used what I had left of that. Sprinkle in some Parmesan cheese (but be sure pasta is cooled enough so the cheese doesn’t melt on the pasta.
Next cut up the proscuito/cheese roll that you buy in the refrigerated deli department. I used 4 rolls of them. Open a jar of chopped green olives and spoon about 2 tables into the pasta. Next cut up about 6-7 marinated artichoke hearts into the pasta. I also added about 1 tables of the marinade from the artichokes. If you like more cheese add about 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese to the pasta before serving!
Cut up green onions or 1/4 cup purple onion and add to the mix. Sprinkle Italian Seasoning, garlic powder and pepper to the pasta and mix well.

Place covered bowl of pasta in the fridge and let chill for about 2 hours before serving. This will be our lunch today along with Peanut M&M’s for dessert. I wasn’t kidding when I said I need to go to the store.

Daily Thoughts · Vegetables

VEGGIE NIGHT AT OUR HOUSE

Chocolate Castles7 Comments

We have been having quite a few veggie nights for dinner. It is weird. For some reason, maybe its the heat maybe I am getting lazy (but think I will just think it is the heat instead, sounds much better), but we have been enjoying vegetables much more than before.
On Sunday night we had family over for dinner. Because my sister-in-law doesn’t eat meat except for salmon or pork roast, it is fun to try to come up with new options for when they come over to eat with us. Sunday night we ended up having fried green tomatoes (yes, I know, we just had them last week, but they were so good and I still had 2 left, I wanted to make them again)cornbread that I added diced green chiles, a small can of creamed corn and because there was not milk to be found in our house, I diluted whipping cream to use in the cornbread. After all, is there anything whipping cream would not taste good in? I put on a pot of pinto beans, had fried potatoes with onions and boiled cabbage. The cabbage was so good that I am posting what I did. You probably have a million recipes on fried potatoes and onions and pinto beans, so will skip that part. But the cabbage was really good. We ended our veggie dinner with a wonderful key lime pie with whipped cream on top. It was a really great meal! We didn’t miss having meat at all. Well, actually because we didn’t have meat, around 9:30 p.m. we started to get a little hungry, so we just had a second piece of key lime pie. Took the hunger pains away instantly! Worked like a charm.

I cut up a head of cabbage and added it to a deep heavy saucepan. Filled the pot with enough water that it covered the cabbage about halfway up the pan. I use the seasoning package of frozen onion, bell pepper and celery that you can get at almost any grocery store for about $1. I added added about 1/2 cup of this to the pot. Sprinkled 2 teas chicken bouillon over the top, 1 teas garlic powder, salt and pepper and 1 rounded teaspoon of Herb de Provence. Cooked it over medium heat for about an hour. About halfway through I threw in about 2 tables of unsalted butter because, well, because if Paula Deen ever saw this post, I would want her to be proud of me for adding butter and because we had not had our full days quota of butter yet. That’s it. It was a great dish that went over so well and my sister-in-law loved it also. If you need a good recipe for fried green tomatoes, just comment. I used one I got off the internet and they were delicious. I will be most happy to share it. Last night, we had the rest of the beans, cabbage, shredded brussels sprouts, and homemade Spanish rice, which even if I say so myself, was really very good. Will post that recipe tomorrow.

Remember what your mom always told you…eat your veggies and have a butterful evening!

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Sassy Southern

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For those of you who might not know, my grandson has been coming over to the house and making videos of me making certain dishes. If you are interested, they are on Youtube under Sassy Southern, Trudy K Cox. If you do watch them, would you do me a favor and “like” them and please subscribe to them. Would very much appreciate that. (I have no idea why, as I don’t get any money for them, but my grandson and one of my sons told me I would always ask people to do that. So if you do and i become rich and famous, I will of course be sure to share any of the $25 I receive with anyone who subscribes.

appetizers · Breads · Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Parmesan-Garlic Bread

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If you have been following me for any length of time or know me personally, you know by now that I never stray to far from whipping cream, butter or cream cheese. Well, whenever I see a new recipe that has one or more of these ingredients, they grab my attention. This weekend we were in a book store with some friends who are visiting from California. We mozied around the store (yes, with mask on and being sure that we did not get any closer than 6 ft, or almost 6 ft, I was never very good at math, so maybe it was only 4 or 5 ft, but no one sneezed on me and I was careful not to look anyone in the eye or smile underneath the mask. Who knows who I might have been smiling at even if they didn’t know it?) Anyway, there at the end of one aisle, were these Gooseberry cookbooks on sale for $3. I use to pay about $20 for them. So I grabbed a few for myself and some friends. (and yes, if you get one from me as a present, you now know your gift only cost $3, but it is the thought that counts).
Finishing rearranging the living room this morning, I sat down with my Diet Dr Pepper to get my heart beating back to normal and thought I would glance through the new cookbook. There on page 67 was this recipe that caught my eye. I had never seen a bread recipe that included whipping cream, and whipped at that. So of course I have to tell you about it. As soon as I get to the store to buy a loaf of french bread, this will be smelling up the kitchen, and adding another inch to my…well, you know where!

1/2 pt whipping cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
9 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 loaf French bread, sliced
paprika to tastes
*I will also add dried parsley flakes to the mixture because I love the little specks of green on French bread.

Whip whipping cream until thick; blend in mayo. Add garlic and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese; stir well. Slice French bread in half lengthwise; generously spread garlic mixture on each half. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese and paprika. Place loaf halves on an uncreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for about 15-18 min until garlic topping is turning light golden. Cut into 1″ slices. Makes about 2 dz slices.

Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Soups · Uncategorized

Italian Chicken Vegetable Soup

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Isn’t it so much fun to create something that turns out really good from just things you already have in your house? This soup turned out to be a winner. I had half of a chicken breast left over and decided to try something different.

This made 4 bowls of soup.

1/2 large chicken breasts, cut into very small pieces
2 slices of bacon,cut into tiny pieces
Fry the chicken pieces with the bacon pieces (sprinkle garlic powder (about 1/2 teas) and oregano (about 1/4 teas) over the chicken as it cooks) in a small skillet until chicken is browned and almost done and bacon is crisp. Set aside.
In the crockpot, add the following:
1/2 chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped in small pieces (I like to use the inside of the celery stalk which has the leafy pieces as they add so much flavor)
2 carrots, sliced
1 ear of fresh corn, sliced off the cob
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 small russet potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 zucchini or mexican squash (I had mexican squash so I used that. Also, I cut out the very inside of the squash, as I like the outer portion with the skin as it doesn’t get squishy like the meat of the squash does when cooked for long periods of time)
1 (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes with oregano and garlic (if you can’t find this, buy either just plain diced tomatoes or italian flavored diced tomatoes)
1 can of chicken broth
1 can of water
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 envelope of McCormick Italian Spaghetti seasoning packet
If this is not enough liquid to cover the ingredients, add either another can of chicken broth or water until all ingredients are covered and there is plenty of juice

Add all ingredients to crockpot and then pour the meat mixture over the top. Stir and set temperature to low and about 6 hours, Check the veggies after about 4 hours and if still need to cook, I changed the setting to high for the last couple of hours. The soup was delicious. Served it with grilled french bread made with butter and garlic.

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Covid 19 Virus Picnics

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

Yes, it has been awhile since I have posted to the blog. And you would think that this is when I had so much time to blog, plus all the cooking I have done these past 3 months of being quarantined. But I did use this time to work on the new book which I hope will be out in the Fall. It will be full of dessert recipes and stories from ladies who have gone through some difficult journey’s in their lives.

But, as we have lived through this pandemic of this most awful virus, I can now look back and see some things I have learned. Both Randy and I are pretty positive people. We just seem (me even a little more than him, so sometimes I have to remind him to not get negative. Actually I did have to do that quite a bit these last 3 months when he was forced to work form home and had to be around me 24/7, but I won’t go there right now). But when this all started and we were being told to stay home and restaurants began to close, except for curbside pick-up, we choose to look at it through rose colored glasses (and a mask, of course). I remember the first time in March when we decided it was safe to go pick up Chick Fila. So we hopped in the car, being sure we had our masks in the car and headed out to Chick Fila out in Plano. Because there were several more thousand that had the virus in Dallas County, we decided to only frequent businesses out of Dallas County for a while. So on our way out to Plano to pick up lunch, we had a great little conversation which went something like this,
“well, this could be fun. Remember when we first married and I would come to your office and pick you up and I would have a picnic all packed with sandwiches, chips, homemade cookies or brownies and ice tea and we would go sit outside in Thanksgiving Square and just dream about our lives together? Well, let’s do that again, only with Chick Fila, because I’m so very tired of cooking.” So we get to Chick Fila and order. Now because of Randy’s Parkinson’s, his speech is a little hard to understand sometimes, especially when trying to order over the speakers at drive thru’s. So after the 3rd attempt to give our order to the sweet young lady, Randy just looks at me and says, “will you tell her what we want?” So after I try to yell our order from the passenger side of the car and she still can’t hear me, I end up climbing over the console, trying to fit between the steering wheel and Randy’s stomach with my head hanging out the window, yelling our order. It is times like these that I am so grateful that AFV are not anywhere around, because I know we would win the money for the most hilarious video, but would never be able to show our faces in public again.
We get our order, pull over in the parking lot and begin our picnic. As we dine and talk, we begin to think of different places we would like to go to for our Virus Picnics. Since one of our son’s got food poisoning after eating at Sonic, we have decided not to get food there anymore, so that is not an option anymore. Costco wasn’t open for hot dogs, so we figured out quickly that our main picnic joints would be Wing Stop, Chick Fila, Caines Chicken, In & Out and of course, my favorite, Whataburger. So with stars in our eyes, we began to plan having one of our picnics once a week until the pandemic passes and we are once again allowed to eat inside restaurants.

Well, lets fast forward a few weeks of these precious planned picnics. They aren’t so fun anymore. We did finally learn to let me drive when we would be ordering via the loud speaker. Didn’t take us more than 3 times of me leaning over him to learn that one. But we did learn that the fish and chips places just didn’t work for us for picnics. I had dropped a piece of fish between the seats and forgot about it by the time we drove home. So after a couple of days sitting with windows rolled up, well, you can imagine the cats that were circling our car. Mustard is a hard condiment to get out of car carpet. Catchup packets fall easily between the seats and are very hard to find. French fries dry and get pretty hard so they are easy to vacuum out.
Pizza made a pretty good picnic. We just placed the cardboard box on the dashboard, and the sun kept it pretty warm for us and we were able to get our shirts to the dry cleaners quickly so they got the pizza sauce out very well.

So, lessons learned during this pandemic is this:
Should the need arise again for us to not be able to to into restaurants, learn which ones have the best foods to eat in the car.
Have dry cleaners as one of your fav GPS locations
Vacuum your car out every few days to pick up the pieces of fish, french fries, small bits of hamburgers which fell from your mouth as you were trying to talk on the phone as you ate. We did learn after one attempt at having Rosa’s Mexican food for a picnic that it works better to pick it up and bring home, because tacos are not the easiest thing to eat in a car. Shredded Lettuce is not your friend in a car, nor is salsa. But a positive is that we have so many broken chips on the floor of our car that we just go and sit in the car barefoot. They make great exfoliates.

#Haveabutterfulday