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So Quick, So Easy, So Good…Beef Stew

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It might seem strange that I am posting what is usually thought of as a winter meal. But sometimes, we just need a comfort food, no matter the temperature outside. Being back in Texas we have had to adjust to the weather changes that happen so quickly. Two nights ago, it appeared that winter was not over, The only thing that sounded good to me was an old fashioned beef stew. It was one of those, “I have to make stew for dinner” days. So off to the store I went. I got home and began cooking. The stew was really one of the best stews I have ever made and I thought I would share it. Very few ingredients and so very easy.

1 lb lean stew meat, cut up in small pieces

1/4 cup butter

1 small onion, chopped

2 tables flour

5 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 10 1/2 oz) can beef consommé

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 package of brown gravy mix, mixed with 2 cups water (I used Lawrys)

Seasoned salt, garlic powder & pepper

 

Melt butter in dutch oven. Sprinkle flour over meat chunks and mix until all the meat is covered in flour.  Add the meat to the melted butte.  Brown the meat until all the pink is gone. Add the chopped onion, potatoes and carrots and seasoning. Stir until mixed well. Add the soup, gravy water and tomato sauce. Put lid on pan and place in a 300 degree preheated oven fr 3 hours. The broth will be thick and rich.

The gravy mix and the flour will cause the broth t thicken as it bakes.

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Easter…He Is Risen

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Christians all over the world celebrate our Lord and Savior’s victory over death each year at Easter. Along with the thankfulness to God for giving the world His Son to die for our sins, rising again to win victory over death, and ensuring us we have Eternal Life, if only we believe in Him; that is certainly cause for us to pause and reflect not only what Christ did for us, but what we are doing for Him. Spring is the season of new beginnings and growth. May we search our hearts to see if we are growing spiritually. Are we realizing that with new beginnings come renewal and refreshing. This weekend, let’s take a few minutes to search our hearts to see if we are growing and renewing our relationship wit God. What better time than now to give Him thanks for all He is doing in our lives. To recognize Him for who he is. Are we worshiping the creation or the Creator? Are we giving thanks to the source of all blessings? If not, let’s renew our commitment to God and begin a new season of thankfulness and worship the “only wise One, worthy of our praise.” God the Father.

Happy Easter!   Truly…He is Risen

Daily Thoughts

DEA Closes In On Retirement Couple

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Moving does present it’s problems. When we moved from Dallas to California, we had to deal with neighbors who felt that Hoarders had invaded the neighborhood. Each Saturday, while living in Pasadena, I made Randy take down something to throw away, even if it was just a big bag of waded up newspaper inside. After all, I was determined to prove to any neighbor looking out their window that we really weren’t hoarders. We just had a lot of treasures and furniture that we couldn’t leave behind in Texas. Now, moving back to Texas where the rooms and closets are bigger than they were in California, we have room, once again for all the things that our kids will one day walk through the  house with a giant garbage bag and with one final sweep, discard anything that didn’t come from Ikea. But, we are determined to make the little darlings work for any inheritance they might receive, so sweep away they will be doing.

Randy and I are still trying to get used to him being retired. We are adjusting quite well, we think, but some days finds it’s struggles and   challenges.

This morning, as I had begun to tell you about started out pretty normal. We were discussing what we would do today over hot tea and coffee. When I told Randy that it was my turn to take the shower first, he said go right ahead, he would make himself breakfast. Wow, that is awesome, I get to shower first (that means that he has to be the one to use the squeegee to clean all the glass walls. (Personally, if I ever marry again, that will be written in the marriage vows that “HE” will always be he the one to  clean the shower walls) But back to the story. I go upstairs to take a shower while he makes breakfast. I am standing in the shower ,when I hear the smoke alarm go off. I give it a couple of minutes, thinking that surely he remembers that since moving into this house, we have set it off 5 other times. Each time it goes off, you have to open the overhead garage door, allowing air to blow in and then open the other back door to allow the heat to escape. But after about 2-3 minutes, it is still going off so I put a towel around me and come downstairs, dripping wet, to see what the problem is. There he stands at the stove, still frying his egg and fixing toast. Freezing, I open the garage door and the other back door so the smoke alarm will stop. In the “nicest” voice I could muster, I asked him why he didn’t open the doors so it would go off. His reply was, “well I didn’t want my egg to burn so I was waiting until I took up my egg”. I am so thankful that the rolling pin was put away.  Because we have had lots of friends and family over in the week we have been here and have set off the smoke alarm so often,the neighbors probably think we are running a meth lab. One of these days, we will probably will be visited by the DEA. I will be ready for them. I’ll just let Randy cook them a fried egg.

 

Cakes · Desserts · Holiday Fare

Mini Macaroon Cupcakes

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Looking through a Land o Lakes Holiday cookbook, I found these little gems which I will bake to take Thursday. They are just perfect for the Springtime brunch/lunches. Since Easter is Sunday, I will be using a little colored coconut to sprinkle on the top.

Cupcake Batter:

1 3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup softened  Land o Lakes butter

1 (3 oz) package of cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup milk

3 eggs at room temp

1 teas vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sweetened coconut

Frosting:

1/3 cup butter, softened

4 oz white chocolate, melted, cooled slightly

3 cups powdered sugar

3 to 4 tables Land O Lakes half & half

3/4 cup sweetened coconut (I will tint mine light pink)

White edible glitter or sparkling decorator sugar

Heat oven to 350. Place mini paper baking cup liners into 48 mini-muffin pan cups; set aside.

Combine sugar, 3/4 butter and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add milk, eggs and vanilla. Continue beating until well mixed. Stir in flour and1 cup coconut. Spoon batter into prepared pan cups. Bake for abut 13-17 minutes, depending on your oven, until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Cool 5 -10 minutes on cooling rack.

Meanwhile, combine butter and white chocolate; mix well. Add powdered sugar and half & half, 1 tables at a time until desired spreading consistency.  Since I like the flavor of almond, I add 1 teas almond extract to the frosting. Frost cooled cupcakes by piping on frosting and then sprinkling a little coconut on top with the decorator sugar.

 

 

 

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Unpacking Follies

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Moving should be an Olympic sport. We have been in our house now for a little over a week. We have had several close calls which would hinder us from ever  moving again.  We have been so busy unpacking boxes and hanging pictures that it just had not really dawned on me that this coming Sunday was Easter. We had one more box left in the guest room that had not been opened and when I did open it, there was all my Easter decorations. Several of them looked brand new to me. Randy accused me of making a last minute stop at Home Goods before the movers packed up the boxes back in California. Trying to empty boxes, we both have dropped into bed at night so sore we couldn’t reach up to turn out the light. We were so excited that out of a hundred or more boxes we found only 3 items that broke.

If we weren’t so old, we would  think  about going into the packing business, as we are getting pretty good at it, Well, other than the near death accidents.  But we also have realized that we are burning calories in new ways other than just walking back and forth from the fridge. We have rewarded ourselves several times for all the hard work with ice cream, chocolate cake and two bags of cookies. Today both of us were in the bathtub. We weren’t taking a bath, we were trying to hang a 3′ by 5′ picture. While I had climbed on the step stool in the tub, Randy was trying to get between the shower glass and the picture. He fell and I started laughing so hard I dropped the picture. After several attempts to find the wire, we finally succeeded. We then moved on to the bedroom where we needed to hang  the tapestry over the bed. Randy tells me that he’s got this, no problem. So he climbs onto the bed and begins to measure where the nail will go. Instead of moving all the pillows that I think make the bed look “chic”, he decides to use them to his benefit and uses them as his “ladder”. While he is trying to measure where the tapestry rod will go, his foot slips between the pillows ad he falls back on the bed, holding the hammer, almost hitting his head with it. I told him not to move that I would go downstairs and get the foot stool. When I came downstairs, I go to the pantry to get the stool, knocking over a glass dish that I hadn’t put up well and glass shatters all over the floor. I yell up to him that it will be a minute because I am sweeping up glass, but not before picking out several pieces out of my foot, I had come downstairs barefoot. We have come to the conclusion that  we feel that our house is decorated enough. We want to live a few more years. The few unopened boxes out in the garage can stay there for awhile. Maybe I will “forget” to put the garage door down one night and someone will steal them. We are now sitting with a bottle of Advil and a box of bandaids beside us and going over our Retirement budget. We think that maybe the grandkids can do without Christmas presents the next couple of years so we can afford to hire someone to do all the hanging next time we move in two years. Maybe all our cuts and bruises will be healed by then.

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Mississippi Mud S’Mores Fudge Pie

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Things are returning to normal. The pictures are pretty much hung on the wall in our new place and we even had friends over for dessert last night after going out for Mexican food. We have been in our new home for a week now and I am feeling a little more settled. Of course, the first thing I want to do after the boxes are unpacked is bake. Last night, because I haven’t totally restocked the panty yet, I just made the easy chocolate cake on the back of the Hershey cocoa can. To dress it up a bit, I baked it in 3 layers instead of 2 and frosted it with vanilla  buttercream frosting (which is on the blog) between the layers. Then I added 3 sq of semisweet chocolate to the remaining vanilla buttercream and frosting the whole thing with the chocolate buttercream, drizzling a little leftover vanilla buttercream over the top. They thought I had sent all day in the kitchen. I fooled them, it took only abut an hour to do hat, but it looked really pretty. I have figured out that just putting your desserts on a fancy cake plate can make even the plainest cakes take on a fancy look.

 For the last couple of months, traveling around from state to state, I collected quite a few new recipes from different places and one of those was this amazing looking pie. As soon as I can get to the store, this will be my next dessert.

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 1/4 cups sugar, divided

1 1/2 cups finely chopped toasted pecans, divided

1 (4 oz) bar semi-sweet chocolate bar, chopped

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

4 large eggs

1 teas vanilla

3/4 teas salt

3 cups marshmallows, cut in half horizontally (spray scissors with Pam before trying to cut, makes it so much easier)

2 cups miniature marshmallows

Chocolate Frosting

Stir together first 2 ingredients then add 1/4 cup sugar; press on bottom and up 2″ of side of 9″ spring form pan. Sprinkle 3/4 cup of pecans over crust..

Microwave chopped chocolate with 1 cup butter in microwave glass bowl until chocolate and butter is melted.

Whisk flour and next 4 ingredients and then the remaining 2 cups sugar into the chocolate mixture. Whisk until blended and pour into prepared crust.

Bake in preheated 350 oven for 1 hr to 1 hr an 15 min.. Remove from oven to cool for 20 minutes.

Preheat broiler with oven rack on lowest level from heat. Place the pan on a jellyroll pan. Toss together, both sizes of marshmallows

and mound on top of chocolate filling, leaving about 1″ edge. Broil 30 seconds to 1 minute or until marshmallows are golden brown and have begun to melt. Remove from oven and immediately remove sides .o pan. Cool on rack for 10 minutes. Prepare chocolate frosting and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup pecans. Drizzle chocolate frosting over the pie.

Frosting:

 1/4 cup butter

3 tables unsweetened cocoa

3 tables milk (I like to use half & half or whipping cream for a creamier taste)

Combine the above 3 ingredients in  small saucepan and stir until combined. Whisk together over the heat for about 3 minutes, then remove from heat and pour over 2 cups powdered sugar. Add 1 teas vanilla. When well blended drizzle over pie.

 

 

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The Moods of Moving

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It has been over a week since posting, since we have been busy setting up the new house.. We have finally found a house and was able to move in last Thursday and Friday. Yes, I said, Thursday and Fri, as it took two 28 ft trailers to haul our precious treasures from California. This is our second scale down, so more things will be given away or sold, to keep our kids from hating us. They had already told us some years back that whatever we had left when they put us in “the home” would be quickly hauled away as they certainly had no interest in our things. They didn’t say it quite like that of course. They used a little tact. I think the conversation went something like this, “we feel that it would be best for all of us if you went ahead and got rid of most of your junk, oops, we mean valuables, that way, we won’t argue over who gets what, when the time comes”. Besides, it would just make us sad each time we looked at something that reminded us of ya’ll.”  Kids have such  way with words, don’t they?

So Randy and I have spent the last 4 days sorting through and deciding which set of the 5 sets of dishes we should keep. We kept the dishes that have a better chance of survival, should they be thrown at someone. We have boxes marked “Treasures for Others” “Treasures for Grandkids”,(let’s hope that those precious babies have better taste than their parents) “Garbage No One Would Want” “Why In the Heck Did We Ever Buy This” and “Size we want to Be”.

We actually began the move in with a positive attitude, exciting about starting our new season of retirement in a new home, close to family and had determined that we would make this move with humor and grace. We did that the first day. By day two, after going to Walmart to purchase necessary items to help turn this house into a home, we were looking up “marriage counselors” on the ipad. Little snide remarks began to permeate the air. After he had unboxed the new vacuum, he brought it over to me and told me that “well, here it is, it’s ready for you to take for a spin around the block.” Since I had already unloaded about 30 boxes that morning, it didn’t set well with me. I shot back, “oh I hope you didn’t mind that I gave the movers all of your power tools”. It just went downhill from there.

When the lease is up in two years, if we have not had the opportunity to attend a “making your marriage work” seminar, we will just renew the lease. Marriages were meant to be able to survive trivial things, like sickness, financial trouble, kids, certainly never retirement or moving. Even good marriages have their limits.

 

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Brownie Pudding

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It makes my mouth water just to think about this. Top with Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla or Cinnamon Ice Cream and you have yourself a little piece of Heaven.

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup flour

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, room temp

2 teas vanilla or seeds scraped from 1 vanlla bean

1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 325.Butter a 2 qt baking dish; set aside. Sift together the cocoa and flour in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

Using mixer, beat sugar and eggs on medium-high until very pale and light yellow, 5-10 minutes.  Reduce mixer speed to low and add the vanilla bean seeds (or vanilla) and the cocoa mixture, mixing just until combined. Still on low, slowly pour in the melted butter, mixing just until blended.

Scrape the mixture into the prepared baking dish and place in a larger baking dish. Add enough hot tap water to come halfway up the sides of the dish with mixture in it. Bake for 1 hour , at which point a tester inserted 2″ from the side of the pan will come out  with some moist crumbs still attached and the center will appear underbaked. Remove the brownie baking dish from the larger pan and place on a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temp or slightly warm with ice cream or whipped topping. Leftovers should be stored, covered, in fridge. (Up to 3 days)

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Moving Day Is Upon Us…..Hence The Need for Chocolate

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Actually, thinking about moving, planning the move, recovering from the move…I guess any situation or any day makes me want chocolate. This morning when I looked at the blogs that automatically come to my email, this one jumped off the page. The recipe is copied from Ina Gartner and I am copying from Browned Eyed Baker. I cannot wait to find the box with my baking pans. This will be made within 48 hours of the moving van pulling away.

Will post it in a separate post so you don’t have to read this every time you look for it.

Holiday Fare · Salads

Whole Wheat Orzo Salad

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Taken from Taste of Home, this is such a pretty & colorful salad, full of flavor and perfect for these spring dinner luncheons or dinners. My sister-in-law just finished making it to take to a party and let me have a spoonful. Trust me on this one…it is a keeper!

2 1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat orzo pasty (about 1 lb)

1 can (15 oz) white kidney or cannellini beans, rinsed and draned

3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

1 English cucumber, finely chopped

2 cups feta cheese (crumbled)

1/2 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped

1/2 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 medium sweet yellow bell pepper, finely chopped

1 1/4 cups pitted Greek olives (about 6 oz) chopped

1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped

Dressing:

14 cup lemon juice

2 Tables olive ol

1 tables grated lemon peel

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teas pepper

Cook orzo according to package directions. Drain orzo; rinse with cold water.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients (except dressing). Stir in orzo.

Combine dressing ingredients and toss into the salad. Refrigerate until serving.