Photo Overload

Joke's on me. I was all excited last week that the Universe had immediately served up the recipe and a picture for a bread I was curious about in a book about French pastries. A Jacquie Lawson card I sent the next morning had the recipe for Poitou, which I remembered as the bread I'd read about the night before. No. 

Here's the info on Poitou which is actually a large shortbread cookie. Click HERE. The bread in the book I was reading is a rustic sour dough bread called Poilane. You can see it HERE. I thought that was too good to be true.

Elly and I went to Golden Corral and again, no photos. What is my problem? All that beautiful food, and not one photo. I decided to start taking photos of everything I eat so that it will become a habit. 

Friday I had my livingroom painted. What a jumble when you're getting ready for the painters. I messed up almost every room in the house.

Ready to go. I left the chest and the writing desk for the painaters to move.

Can you believe I got all those cups and saucers out of this little chest? Thirty-five of each.

I fixed lunch for the painters, so this is my dinner of the week: Meat Loaf, Baked Potatoes, Buttered Carrots, Vegetable Salad, Mixed-Grain Muffins.

MEAT LOAF 

1 lb. 85-87% lean ground beef

1 cup finely chopped onion

3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

1 egg

3/4 of an 8 oz can tomato sauce (just pour and save the balance)

20 Ritz-style crackers, crushed

Topping:

Balance of tomato sauce

1/3 cup ketchup

2 Tbs brown sugar

 

Heat oven to 350°.

 

For easy cleanup, line a baking pan with 1-2” sides and line with heavy aluminum foil. Oil the foil.

 

In large mixing bowl, add all ingredients except topping, and mix well with your hands.

 

Shape into 4-6 mini-loaves and place in foil-lined pan.

 

Bake 40-45 minutes, depending on size of loaves.

 

Remove from oven and drain off grease.

 

Mix topping and spoon over loaves.

 

Bake an additional 10-15 minutes.

VEGETABLE SALAD

Salad:
1 15 oz can Le Seur peas, drained
1 15 oz can white shoe peg corn, drained
1 15 oz can French cut green beans, drained
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup chopped green onions
Small container pimientos, optional
 
Dressing:
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
 
While the green beans are still in the can, run a knife through to cut the pieces into 1/2’s or 1/3’s.
 
Mix all salad ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
 
Mix all dressing ingredients together in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stir to make sure sugar is completely dissolved, then cool.
 
When cool, add to salad and chill, preferably overnight.

MIXED GRAIN MUFFINS

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, quick-cook is okay
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
 
Heat oven to 400°F.
 
Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners.
 
In a medium mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
 
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cornmeal, oats, and buttermilk.
 
Add the egg, brown sugar, and melted butter. Beat with wooden spoon until well blended.
 
Add flour mixture and stir until moistened, and spoon into muffin tin.
 
Bake 20-25 minutes or until nice and browned.
 
Note: If you reheat, wrap in foil and use a regular oven. Microwaving makes them soggy. Or split and toast them in the broiler or broil in a toaster oven.
 

I also baked an easy cake and served it with ice cream.

CHERRY CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 can cherry pie filling
3 eggs, beaten
1 box devil’s food or chocolate fudge cake mix
1 tsp almond extract
 
Heat oven to 350°.
 
Grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan, or two 8” or 9” round cake pans.
 
Use a mixer and break down the cherry pie filling first; then beat in the
eggs and almond extract.
 
Thoroughly beat in the cake mix.
 
Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake according to times on the cake mix box.
 

 PUDDING MIX FROSTING

1/4 cup maraschino cherry juice.

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 small box instant chocolate pudding mix

1 8-oz Cool Whip, thawed in the refrigerator overnight.

Put cherry juice and milk in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk in powdered sugar and pudding mix.

Fold in Cool whip.

This is a mousse-like frosting and the cake needs to be refrigerated until serving.

 

 

The recipes above are always requested when I serve these dishes to company.

I'll admit I've watched too much TV this week, but I've been without decent shows for so long, and I'm so in love with BritBox. The Brits are just so civilized. And I love the flowers (outside and in), the houses, the scenery. And they're so polite. Our traffic signs say YIELD. I can imagine a guard standing there, holding a long spear in his hand upright next to him. 

The British signs say Give Way, and I'm surprised they don't say Give Way, Please.

And I heard something in an episode of DCI Banks which was a real wake-up call. The character (I think he was one of the bad guys) said, "I don't want my dreams to die before I do." 

Wow! Neither do I. And I still have a lot of dreams. New rule: No watching TV until after 6:00 p.m. except when eating lunch.  I can have the TV turned on to music or motivational speakers when I'm cleaning or cooking. That's all! 

Now about breakfast - the most boring meal of the day. I've been saving my photos so that perhaps I'll see something which appeals to me. Here are some of them.

COTTAGE CHEESE AND FRUIT

Any fruit will work. A good time to work on eating the rainbow. Grapes are a good source of that difficult blue-purple part of the rainbow.

Oranges and Grapes

Mango and Grapes

Pears, Oranges, and Grapes

Strawberries and Pecans with Waffle Toast Points

EGGS

Bacon and Eggs

Fried

Scrambled

Poached

Toasted Multi-Grain Muffins from above recipe

Eggs from a Muffin Tin

Quiche

Impossible (crustless)

With regular crust

Egg Tacos

Leftover Fries, Fried Eggs, Tomato

Chili-Cheese Omelet (deconstructed)

OATMEAL AND

 (adding cottage cheese will keep you satisfied longer)

Apples, walnuts, brown sugar

Applesauce and whipped cream

Bananas, blueberries and sugar in microwave 

Applesauce, cottage cheese, sugar

Raisins, pecans, cottage cheese, sugar, and cinnamon

Apples, cottage cheese, pecans, cinnamon, maple syrup

PANCAKES

Blueberry

Oatmeal Pancakes

With strawberry freezer jam

FRENCH TOAST

TOASTER WAFFLES

MISCELLANEOUS

Biscuits and Gravy 

add eggs and gravy

Sour cream coffee cake

Banana Coffee Cake

Orange rolls from a can

Avocado Toast

 Avocado, Havarti cheese, toasted English muffin cheese melt

Breakfast oat bars (from Kevin Lee Jacobs on YouTube) with peanut butter and banana 

Corn fritters, butter, and syrup

Fried apples

Potato pancakes, sausage, applesauce

A lot of the time I just eat whatever sounds good. I think our bodies tell us what we need if we listen. Today I toasted one of those mixed grain muffins and ate it with an oven-roasted pork steak. I started thinking about what I ate yesterday, and I had little protein. See - my body told me to eat meat. Sometimes I even crave iceberg lettuce though I know it has few nutrients and I have a 50-50 chance of ending up with a hurried trip to the bathroom.

You really need to watch this: Click Here. It's about Covid.

Barack Obama said that he would fundamentally change this country, and he started the ball rolling. We're well on our way to being broke, toppled from our position as the leading country, and the laughing stock of the world. His views have been perpetuated by Democratic leaders of large cities and of states and especially by the federal government. We are no longer innocent until proven guilty; we are now guilty unless we can prove our innocence. We're lied to, spied on, discriminated against if Conservative, or audited by the IRS. Illegal immigrants, and the people of Ukraine are treated better than American citizens.

Joe Biden has written executive orders which have hurt us the most. Relying on other countries once more for oil has driven inflation through the roof - and it's not the low percentages they quote. Some of the things I buy at the market have almost doubled, have doubled, or have more than doubled. When you consider that almost everything we use now is transported by oil- fueled vehicles, it's no wonder. 

A major problem was created when Joe opened our borders. People from over 170 countries are walking across our border. I saw an interview with a sheriff in Yuma, AZ, a big entry point. He said that the illegals walk across the fields where 90% of our leafy greens are grown during the winter, sometimes even defecating in the fields. The entire crop has to be plowed under because of contamination. I'm even a little skeptical now about eating fresh vegetables from the market, wondering if they've been pooped on and no one discovered it.

Besides the economic impact, Non-hispanic whites will become a minority in the USA by 2045. Non-hispanic whites under the age of 18 are already a minority in the USA. I wonder if this is partially due to abortion? 

This is not a problem if you don't care if we lose our heritage, but I'm glad I don't have grandchildren. On the upside, perhaps we can then have a Miss White America contest, a magazine called Ivory, the NAAWP (the National Association for the Advancement of White People), and perhaps Affirmative Action will be reinstated to help the Whites get jobs.

Some Kool-aid drinking liberal at Microsoft might hack me again, but I get so disgusted, I just have to sound off. So sad that many watch the liberal news networks (the worst is MSNBC), and refuse to even watch the other side occasionally to see what's being said. I sometimes wonder if my cousin got cancer from watching MSNBC 24-7. She would get mad, and stay mad by the lies they were telling, and you know what anger can do to your health and your body.

I'm through preaching. Here's a new salad recipe. Six to go.

EXOTIC CHICKEN-RICE SALAD

(I think this recipe came from the Near East Company)
 

1 7-oz pkg Near East rice pilaf

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup orange marmalade

1/4 cup sour cream

2-1/2 Tbs lemon juice

1 tsp curry powder

2 cups cooked and cubed chicken

2 medium apples, cored and cubed

1/2 cup raisins

Toasted slivered almonds for garnish (optional)

 

Prepare the rice pilaf following the package directions.

 

Place it in a large bowl, cover, and chill.

 

Make dressing by combining the mayonnaise, marmalade, sour cream, lemon juice, and curry powder. Cover and chill.

 

Combine pilaf, chicken, apples, and raisins. Stir in dressing.

 

Garnish (optional) and serve.

 

Perfect to serve as the main part of a Lady Lunch. And it makes lots.

 

Note: The pilaf is also delicious served hot as a side dish. I almost want to eat it all before I have a chance to make the salad.