Best Grandpa Hands Down, A Procrastination Story

You are probably wondering what this is all about. Well, in my family we have a saying "if you can't send it on the right day PROCRASTINATE"! Well, that is not "our" family motto, just "some" of my wonderful children/adult's. But, you know, procrastination is sometimes a good thing, like yesterday, my wife and I received a box from our mailperson "PC" (as my youngest daughter announced last night) and my wife and I both looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders, then my youngest explained what this acronym meant "Politically Correct", Anyway, it was very heavy and it looked similar to the boxes we would receive from my oldest daughter for Christmas around May. "Well, if you had three children under the age of 8, you would procrastinate too", she would say. Well, hmmmm, we did and sadly enough we did :-(. (that is not a wart on the bottom of my smile, that is a period for the end of the sentence. :-) Back to my story, When we opened the box, it was gifts from Mother's/Father's Day and our Birthdays all in one box, It was only 4 months late, oh well, hmmmm sound familiar? My daughter sent my wife her favorite perfume which was very expensive, (she mistakenly left the tag on) also a beautiful English tea service, with some the old castle from English history. Some reading material and a copy of her "most favorite" DVD of all time "Phantom of the Opera" and she melted right there in front of me. She was now complete! Well it was my turn; I got my favorite Cologne- oh yes!!! I was out of it 2 months ago and really like it. Also, canister of Old fashioned Filled hard Candies, you know the kind that you see around at Christmas. Hmmmm (maybe this was a late gift or maybe an early one), some reading material and then I spotted it, a glimmer of a piece of white cloth, I thought at first what an odd piece of packing material. I pulled it out and opened it up and with great emotion turned to my wife, I almost started to cry. In front of me was this most amazing T-shirt which said, "Best Grandpa Hands Down" and it had my three (3) grandchildren's names, handprints and ages. Well, talk about meltdown; I was a puddle on the floor. I put it on right away. Talk about having your grandchildren right next to you. It was wonderful. I have not seen them for about three years, basically because they lived in Wisconsin and with timing and all and the expense of the flights now. Here they were, right here next to my heart. What a happy moment, my wife took my picture and we sent an email to my daughter. I wore it all day, with pride. That evening my wife said "you have to take it off, you can't sleep in it". I reluctantly removed it and laid it on the back of my computer chair, where it rest right now. Well, I hope that I didn't bore you with this "short/long" story, but it was such a precious act of procrastination.

This next recipe is in honor of my oldest daughter. It is Split Pea Soup, or as they affectionately use to call it; “Spit, Pea, Poop"! Since when or budget was tight back then, which it was a lot, we ate this a lot.

My wife's their Mom's Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:
1 bag Split peas
Ham chunks, hocks or bacon, it depended on our $$ at the time.
2 Carrots, sliced
2 Celery stalks, cut up, without tops
1 med. Onion, chopped
Salt to taste

Directions:
Follow the directions on the bag, adding the above ingredients, at the start. Cook until thick then serve hot at the table with fresh (store bought) bread, (buttered) and folded in half, for dipping into the soup. And, of course MILK!

This is a very simple dinner; it covers all of the basics. It is one that I love today; too bad our children haven't touched it since they left home. :-(.

I Remember Mom

Every once in awhile I have a flashback of my Mom cooking in our kitchen. She was from the "old" school, everything was, pretty much, homemade. Whenever I would wake up in the morning I would have these fantastic smells of food cooking on our gas stove. Usually, eggs, bacon, fried potatoes, biscuits, coffee percolating, you know the old swoosh/clunk kind, and whatever my Mom could put together from old leftovers or newly baked goodies. My Mom's past gave her the ability to stretch, create and mold her cooking into such a pleasant experience it would make the trained chef's of today green with envy. But, of course didn't all of our Mom's? She came from an international background, with abundant options that were leveled by a time in our country that was left in a depression. So, I would eat some very interesting and taste bud expanding recipes. The only problem, they were always from memory, so nothing was written down. It was a pinch of this and a handful of that with a smidgen--well you get the point. So her recipes were taste tested and retested to get it just right. I have one here that I know that you will like, if not already experienced from your own "Mom".

Mom's Salmon Cakes

Ingredients:

1 lg cans Pink Salmon

2 Cans *Tuna, drained, back then it was packed in oil.

2 Eggs

1 Cup Bread crumbs

1 Tbsp. Finely chopped onion

1 Tbsp. Bacon drippings

2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil

Directions:

Empty salmon in bowl and remove bones and skin. Retain juice. Add tuna, eggs, bread crumbs, and onions. Mix together with your hand (what other way?). If there is too much liquid, add more bread crumbs. Shape into patties, about 4 inches round and 1 inch thick. Fry in bacon fat and vegetable oil. Heat oven to 275 degrees to store patties once they have been fried. Serve homemade tartar sauce (below), with our family traditional mashed potatoes and creamed peas. *When salmon is on sale, you can use 2 cans and omit 1 can of tuna.

Tartar Sauce

1 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise (BEST FOODS, of course)

2 Tblsp. Finely chopped onions

1/2 Cup Relish

3 Tblsp. Catsup

2 Tblsp. Wine Vinegar.

Mix all ingredients together until well blended. You could make the night before and store in refrigerator to mix flavors.

Halloween, oooh scarrrrry. My favorite holiday especially desserts

Well, if you don’t know me, you will realize that I like food. One of my best foods is dessert :-) So, if you see a good dessert once in awhile, you will remember this fact about me. Since Halloween is one of my best holidays I thought it appropriate to share this recipe with you. It is really great and it is so easy to make. Which is me in a nutshell.

Great Pumpkin Cake

Recipe Rating:
Prep Time: 20 minTotal Time: 1 hr 5 minMakes: 24 servings

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (2-layer) cake mix (any flavor) spice/carrot or pumpkin (if availabile would) be good
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
Few drops each: green, red and yellow food colorings
1 small Ice Cream Cone (comet brand)

Directions:

PREPARE and bake cake mix in 12-cup fluted tube pan as directed on package. Cool 10 min. in pan. Remove from pan to wire rack; cool completely.
BEAT cream cheese and butter in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy after each addition. Remove 1/2 cup of the frosting; place in small bowl. Add green food coloring; stir until well blended. Spread half of the green frosting onto outside of ice cream cone; set aside. Set remaining green frosting aside for later use.
ADD red and yellow food colorings to remaining white frosting to tint it orange. Place cake, rounded-side up, on serving plate. Spread with orange frosting to resemble pumpkin. Invert ice cream cone in hole in top of cake for the "pumpkin's stem." Pipe the reserved green frosting in vertical lines down side of cake.

Tips:
For a more rounded Great Pumpkin Cake, use a tall 12-cup fluted tube pan. As the cake bakes, it rises and forms a rounded top. When cake is unmolded (upside-down), the bottom of the cake will be rounded. If the cake is baked in a shorter 12-cup fluted tube pan,
the resulting cake will be flatter.
Place black gumdrops on sheet of wax paper sprinkled with additional sugar. Use a rolling pin to thinly flatten each gumdrop, turning frequently to coat both sides with sugar. Cut into desired shapes with a sharp knife. Use to decorate frosted cake to resemble a jack-o'-lantern.

Yummy, Yummy, food for the tummy! (YAWN)

Well, you are probably wondering, why I am doing this so early in the am again? Well to put it mildly, I am now officially off vacation. I wake up this early to put in the old 8 so I can get paid, funny thing about it, I woke up this early all thru my vacation. Have you heard about the old "body clock" Well, mine is like "Big Ben" at exactly 2:30 in the am I am up and out of bed, to the amazement of my wife, who can't believe that I can "bounce" out of bed so quickly. It takes her at least 20 yawns and 10 stretches and then she sits up in bed. Then it is about 20 more yawns and then 10 more stretches, than on and on for each waking up getting out of bed process. Have any of you been there? This is all before she stands. It is quite amusing for all of us "early risers" like me. And all of this so I can afford buying all of this ingredients for these wonderful recipes. :-), :-( I quess I feel a little mixed right now, but wouldn't you feel that way? Especially with today's recipe it is sooooo good and sooo easy, you probably have all of the ingredients in the house somewhere, well now you go out and look. See I told you. Well, enjoy. Your family will and they will be amazed that you "worked" so hard on their behalf :-) hush, just our little secret.

Creamy Tuna Rice

Prep Time: 5 min
Total Time: 15 min
Serves: 4

Ingredients :
1 cup water (that is that hard one)
1/2 cup milk
1 can (12 oz.) tuna, drained, flaked
1-1/2 cups MINUTE White Rice, uncooked
2 Tbsp. parsley flakes (optional)
1/2 Lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut up

Directions:
Place water and milk to in medium saucepan. Bring to boil on medium heat. Stir in tuna, rice and parsley; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Add prepared cheese product; stir until melted.

As you can tell I didn't get much sleep. Oh Well :-(

Well, isn't this funny, When I talked to my wife, she mentioned that she has a blog, also my two (2) daughters and my son is working on his. Well aren't we a blogging family. It is funny to read all about your families experiences. Some are very interesting and some are shocks to me. I don't think they know that I have the sites on my desktop, so I can check them out all of the time. I don't want to stifle their creativity. :-0 I am getting so good at these smiley faces. Too bad so is the "whole" world. :-(( Anyway, I was checking out this other recipe and it was great. It also tasts great. If you have any ideas, please write them down. It would be great chatting back and forth.

Better Than Sex Cake

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (plus some extra)
1 stick butter
1 cup powdered sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz tub Cool Whip
2 small boxes of pudding (Cook 'n Serve chocolate, or instant lemon)[Instant chocolate works, but it isn't nearly as good]
Directions:
Layer 1:Combine flour, nuts, and butter. Mix and press into ungreased 9x13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees 15 minutes. Cool.
Layer 2:Cream together powdered sugar and cream cheese. Fold in (actually I just use the mixer) 1 cup Cool Whip. Spread over cooled crust.
Layer 3: Prepare pudding, using 3 cups of milk. Pour over 2nd layer (chocolate pudding will need to be cooled first--you might want to make it ahead witht the crust).
Layer 4:Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top and sprinkle with nuts. Regrigerate.This makes a very nice dessert, however, If you find the crust a little bland. Substitute an Oreo Cookie crust (recipe to follow) and sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top instead of the nuts. The chocolate crust gives the dessert a little pizzaz! (Note: Oreo crust would probably not go well with the lemon, but why would I choose lemon over chocolate?!?)

Oreo Cookie Crust:

2 cups Oreo Cookie crumbs
6 tbls sugar
1/2 cup butter, softenedMix ingredients with a fork and press into the bottom of the pan. Chill.
Actually, a graham cracker crust works well, too. You can use:
2-1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs,
1/2 cup sugar,
2/3 cup butter.

Well, this will just have to stop this morning! You know the "newness" of it all. I have to go back to bed, since I have been up since 2:30 am pst.

Another new recipe, no I am not trying to sell tater-tots!

Chili Fries

Ingredients:
3 Cans Hormel Chili
1 large bag frozen French Fries (or if you have it in the freezer, tater-tots will do nicely too)
2 cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Directions:
Cook Chili and Bake Fries (or for those with a deep fryer you can make your fries that way) as directed on can and package. When done, put 1/2 a cup of Fries into each serving bowl (more or less depending on each individual) and pour hot chili over the top of them. Sprinkle cheese on the top. Serve.
Makes about 4-6 servings.

Now it is official

Well, I just showed this to my wonderful wife and she about cracked up. "You know that is not where you live". I said that "I know" aren't quotations marks great! Anyway. Here is my first recipe: I hope you enjoy it.

Tater-Tot Casserole

Ingredients:
2 lbs. extra lean ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 (2 pound) bag frozen tater tots
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions:
Pat ground beef into bottom of greased 13x9x2-inch pan. Spread soup over meat and cover with grated cheese. Top with tater tots. Bake at 350 degrees, covered for 45 minutes and then uncovered for 15 minutes.Serves 8-10
I forgot who submitted this, but can you imagine this on your plate tonight. Oh YUM!

My first "time" :-)

Well, this is my first time blogging and I feel great. I hope that I can make this experience worth your satisfied stomach!