What's Cooking ?

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How cute is that?!! My,my,my,don't those aprons look really cute on a skinny,young cook?!! I'm not quite as thrilled with the blue apron with the retro accents. But I love the main retro print with the blue accent!! The pattern came from The Apron Book by EllynAnne Geisel. The book is a fun read, with loads of pic's, along with a few basic patterns for aprons.

It seems, if I feature an apron, I ought to have some food thoughts too! It's pretty humid what with all the rain we've been having, so it's nice to take the cooking outdoors. My dear husband does all the grilling (I love you for that, babe!!) & I take care of the inside stuff. Yesterday, that included making a marinade for the chicken. I've used this recipe, or variations of it, since I first got married. It's stood the test of time, because it's still a tasty favorite!

Basic Marinade

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

2 Tb. oil

2 Tb. soy sauce

2 Tb catsup

1/4 tsp. onion salt

Garlic powder & black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients. Use with beef, pork or chicken. Pour marinade over meat,turning to coat. Let marinade at least 3-4 hours in fridge.

Obviously,this recipe just invites substitutions!! Try different vinegars,use tomato sauce or chili sauce instead of the ketchup. Last night, I had used balsamic vinegar & a green tea pepper seasoning instead of the black pepper-mmh!! D grilled it to a moist,tender perfection!! We had a broccoli salad with the first yummy sweet corn, dripping with butter & sprinkled with salt, as sides with it. Lil' Miss A loved it all!!!!

Tonight, I'll use some of that chicken with lettuce,bacon & cheese, wrapped in a tortilla. Fast, easy & a good way to beat the heat in the kitchen!

What's up at my house

Yesterday was our summer.I guess. We had no rain yesterday.Today it's different. It was cloudy in the morning. It rained all afternoon. Downpour this evening. It was a good summer. I guess. That one whole day........

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  What's up at my house?!! Something wonderful-can you guess?Look at pic's above.
• No hole in ceilings.
• No beam showing in front room
• No yucky stairwell & hallway ceiling
• No gritty cement block chimney
• There is also new roofing on the kitchen & the back part of the house.
• House is snug in it's new ceiling patches. House is dry in the rain. House is looking smart in it's new roof. House is happy.So am I. Hope it's dry where you're at. Hope your house is happy.Hope you are happy,too!

SUMMER-It's really here!

What says"summer" more readily than a day at the pool?!! We haven't had too many days that we could spend a day outside, much less at a pool. It's been a cool & rainy season for us this year.Till yesterday. It did not rain ALL day!!! That calls for a big yee ha, woo hoo, & yahoo!!! The long awaited summer finally showed it's sunny face!

We got to spend the afternoon with our friends who have a built-in pool!!! (You can bet I slathered the ol' sun lotion on!!) How's that sound?!! A day enjoying sunshine & friends poolside with an iced tea slushie!! ( Sorry, Sum, you didn't know, you missed it while napping!!)

Okay. I know. I need to eat humble pie. All that teasing of our ND family... they wouldn't be able to wear shorts.Their summer lasts only a week.The boys would need to sleep in snowsuits.Well, the joke was on me-they have had a hot summer with alot more good days & a whole less lot of rain!! I'm kinda afraid to tease her about a ND winter!!!!!!!

The Shower!

Mandy-the soon to be bride & my sweet neices with lil' Miss A. Love the matching cape & hat,Mandy!! I think she's really making some kind of statement,don't you?!!

My camera had some issues,( I wonder if it was from that time I dropped it? I whacked it back together...it looks as good as new,hmm....) so, some of the pic's came out a little blurry. The bride to be had to play a game of answering questions about her spouse to be. To see how well she knows him.For every wrong answer she must chew a piece of bubble gum. I think Mandy ended up with 6. Josh stopped by & they put him in the hot seat-I think he might have had 7!

A slice,please! And make it BIG!!

Somehow I missed making a strawberry-rhubarb pie this spring, so I made one with frozen fruit.Maybe,it's not quite as good,maybe.....but we didn't really seem to notice!!!! Notice that thick rim of crust-that's my Polish heritage shining out of me-yum!

The recipe I use for crust is as follows-I've used it so many years, I've got it memorized!

My never-fail-always-good piecrust

2 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

Stir together.

2/3 c. shortening

Cut into flour with a pastry blender, or what I used for years, before I got a pastry blender-a fork! Cut in, till all is crumbed.

5-7 Tb cold water

Now, recipes will tell you to add the water one Tb. at a time.....& they are the experts, so, I'm sure they know what they are talking about....I tend to sprinkle the whole 7 Tb. at once & stir together to make a ball. If I have some dry flour at the bottom of the ball of pastry, I, gasp, sprinkle more cold water onto that!! And mix it into the ball. They say don't overwork the dough or it will become tough.....I guess I mostly never do because it's always flaky & tender! Soooo,even though I'm probably doing it all wrong, it sure comes out very RIGHT!!!!

The filling was just frozen fruit,thawed a bit to pour off extra liquid, sugar & cornstarch-oh,so good!!!

Make it "Pie Week" at your house this week!

Your family will be glad you did!!

Grampa with the little darlin'-he taught lil' Miss A to sing BabaraAnn by the Beach Boys!! She sings-"baa, ba,ba,baa,ba,ba'' very happily & bounces in rhythm!! They're taking a little break from watching The Beach Boys so that Grammy can take a pic!
Lil' Miss A got a chair & table set from Mommy & Daddy for her birthday-which isn't till August 1st!!! Hmm,what is the little girl sitting on?! Hmmm,what is the date today?!
Let's just say we're having a little happy before the birthday!!!

Life is one discovery after the other

This is what I turned around to find as I pulled clothes out of the dryer...my little girl discovering more of the exciting things in life!

Off the sewing table!

Bodice in progress.


Ariana's sun bubble completed. Summy & I met up at Walmarts & the lil' cutie was wearing it!!Grammy wished she had her camera!!!

link to a giveaway

I found this delightful giveaway at Kati Cupcake I just want to share with you all. The giveaway is a gorgeous quilt kit, you feel happy just looking at it! check out her blog & sign on if it's something you adore too!! She's made it extra nice to get more chances! If you click on the title above it should take you to her site!

The Golden Rule

Isn't it funny,the memories that stay with us all our life.......The summer I was 8,our family had moved up to my great grandparents newly renovated farmhouse. That fall I would begin 3rd grade in a new school. I was a bit of a precocious learner,having learned to read before kindergarten, so school was an experience I enjoyed & looked forward to.
Mrs. Milson was the name of my teacher & she made learning fun. She had mental math games,where we would figure the sums as she called out numbers to add, subtract,multiply or divide. There were "rainy day cupboards" -cupboards filled with educational games of all sorts, that we could play with when outside recess wasn't an option. I can recall an outfit my Mother had made me & another outfit I had that was the same as another little girls' in my class....... we would sometimes plan together to wear them on the same day.
But the clearest & biggest recollection I have is of a "movie" played by Mrs. Milson. The "movies" were actually film strips that were turned manually on a film projector when an auditory tone sounded. I am sure we saw plenty of these film strips but I only remember one-it was about "The Golden Rule".
"The Golden Rule" is actually a Bible verse, a very familiar one, I would think, to most everyone. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." There was something very special about that to me as a little 8 year old girl. I understood what it meant. It told me the way to treat others, it made me think "how?" As in, how would I want someone to speak to me,how would I want someone to act toward me? I understood that I was to, then, speak & act accordingly, to others. I look back now & think it was the seed of empathy planted in me.The Golden Rule gave me crucial information about interacting with the world around me.
The Golden Rule allowed me to put myself in someone else's shoes,to think of the other person & how my actions might effect them. The rule has been a guiding light to sail me through the little difficulties we all face..... when the store clerk is rude-how will I choose to respond? When faced with an opportunity to be selfish at the expense of others-do I go ahead or do I consider how it would effect others??
That long ago film strip made a bigger impact on me than anything else I remember learning that year.If I, & everyone else, would practice the golden rule, this old world would be a far sweeter place,wouldn't it?! Words would, perhaps, be spoken a little kinder, our actions, more thoughtful. Like a coin of gold,it's only become more valuable to me as time goes on. I'm hoping you'll find someone to give a little "gold" to today! Blessings on your day!!

An Almost One Year Old

Make- it Day!

My sister Debbie & neice Mandy,who will be married in August!!! We had a get-together at Deb's house to make favors & centerpieces. And, of course, she made all kinds of yummy food! & one of my especial all-time favorites-Sausage Roll.(If Trav reads this,he'll be oh so jealous!!)I've always thought that Deb does make it the best. I wonder if part of this is because she makes it more than the rest of us. Dan hasn' t really cared for it, so with the kids gone, I just don't really make it. Man, did it taste good!!

The Princess joined the party with her Mommy. Aunt Debbie had alot of fun surprises for the little one. Some really cute clogs & stacks of books.Lil' Miss A LOVES her books. In fact, that seems to be the only time, other than her bottle time, when she sits still on my lap!!!
It was humid up to the lake, it would rain, then get really sunny & hot. Lil' Miss A doesn't think she likes to get sticky-it messes with her hair something awful!!

Deb & Mandy at their work stations!! Me, with sisters Yvonne & Debbie.

Some of Mandy's friends. Fun-loving, soon-to-be -bride!

The sweet victory of success!! What a great day!!!