Blue Jeans and Cotton Tees

My niece recently sent me this true story – and  I had to share it with you all!

I’m sure many of us can relate!

I was not there, so this account is from mother.

Mom woke up in the middle of the night when she heard something that sounded like a mouse burrowing in paper. She listened for awhile and finally woke my Dad up.

When Dad turned on a light, the creature that was in the corner FLEW!

It was a bat and it was in their bedroom.

Mom started to scream, “Kill it, kill it!”

Dad jumped out of bed and slammed the bedroom door – now making mom and dad stuck with the bat! <insert dramatic dooms day music>

Dad started jumping around the room trying to catch it when it occurred to him that he had nothing to put it in.  So he rounded the bat into the master bathroom and slammed the door on him (again).

Then dad bounded out of the bedroom looking for a box leaving Mom screaming and hiding under the covers.

Now that Dad was gone she was a bit more nervous, especially when it occurred to her that the bat could fit under the small space under the bathroom door!

Just then she saw a head stick out from under the bathroom door and mom says she’s almost certain it stuck his tongue out at her!

Then Dad heroically returned with a box and started the chase again! He finally caught it in the box and removed it from the house.

My mom may never be the same.

I can understand why! My only question is – do bats really have tongues?!

I told you all about our family Iron Chef competition a few weeks ago…

Well… I just got the recipe for my favorite entry of the weekend!

My nine year old nephew invented this delectable dessert that had all his aunts swooning!

It was a caramel and apple combination on a cake base that was truly memorable.

Caramel Apple Crumble

1 package french vanilla cake mix
2/3 cup evaporated milk (separated) – ( this equals one small can)
3/4 cup melted butter or margarine
1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
1 can apple pie filling
14 ounce package of caramels

Mix the cake mix with the melted butter and 1/3 cup of evaporated milk.  Add the pecans if desired.

Press 1/2 of the mix into a 9 x 13 greased cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the caramels with the remaining 1/3 cup of evaporated milk and set aside.

Remove from the oven and spread the can of apple pie filing over the crust. Pour the melted caramels over the apples and dot with the remaining cake mix.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the cake is not doughy.

PS: My home canned apple pie filling works great in this recipe!

Enjoy!

I love old cookbooks – especially the ones from church or community groups. These cookbooks have the real recipes in them from real cooks.

They also frequently have some very interesting entries!

I just picked up a 1969 community cookbook at a garage sale over the weekend that really intrigued me! It has an entire section of old-fashioned recipes.

This recipe was one I just had to share – as the economy continues to crumble – we may all need it!

(This is copied exactly as it came from the cook book)

Beaver Roast

First catch your beaver.

Then dress the same as any other animal. Cut your roast from any part of the animal you wish.

Make a strong brine and pour over the meat and let stand overnight.  Then take enough cold water to cover and lay it  in a kettle with a few whole peppers, 6 cloves, a piece of  stick cinnamon, 6 allspice, a teaspoon of white mustard seed, if handy, all tied up together in a piece of cheesecloth.

Parboil half an hour.

Take up and put in a dripping pan with a pint of water and start it roasting in the oven. Then mix a teaspoon of mustard, a teaspoon of black pepper, a pinch of cayenne, with a tablespoon of flour and mix with water from dripping pan and use to baste with.

Either stick 2 or 3 garlics here and there in the roast, or chop an onion fine and mix with the dressing.

I’m not sure when you are supposed to know that the beaver is done – or just where the dressing is supposed to come from – but if the guys around here every bring a beaver home, I’ll try it out and let you know!

My sister and her 6 kiddos came to the farm to spend a few days this week – bringing with them lots of energy and lots of food! I soon realized that our refrigerator couldn’t handle all the wonderful things she had brought.

So, I called one of the boys to bring up our Coleman PowerChill cooler. I love the convenience of an extra refrigerator on occasions such as this. He plugged it in, we filled it up and forgot about it…

…until noon the next day when we started to make lunch for the troops.I opened the cooler to grab the cantaloupes and was shocked to discover they were hot. Not warm, as if it hadn’t been running, but hot.

In the chaos of unpacking, dealing with the piles of duffel bags, sleeping bags, suitcases, and food, we had plugged our warm/cool electric cooler on in the warm function.

Our 2 gallons of milk and 2 cantaloupes had been “cooking’ all night long.

Oops.

Now what do we do with 2 gallons of warm milk and 2 cantaloupes? Would it be okay to just cool the milk back down and drink it? Kind of double pasteurized?  We weren’t sure.

It was time to call Mom (of course!) After she stopped laughing, she started brainstorming ideas.

We decide to cut up the cantaloupe, put in the fridge to cool down and eat it immediately. It tasted fine.

Mom suggested making chocolate milk with one of the gallons. It was brilliant! I put it in a pot on the stove, added 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of cocoa powder and a pinch of salt. After mixing it well with the immersion blender, I poured it back in the jug and put it in the fridge.

It chilled all night and the kids guzzled it down the next day!

One gallon down, one to go.

It was time to divide and conquer. We used some to make broccoli cheese soup for our lunch, some for the macaroni and cheese for the kids lunch, and the rest went into homemade vanilla pudding that we put in the freezer and made into pudding pops for the next day.

We did it! Nothing was wasted. Everything was used.

It is interesting to note that not one of us, my sister, my mom or myself, ever even thought of dumping the milk. We were determined to find a use for it because we had been taught from a young age that we should “Waste not, want not!”

Is there anything that says spring quite like rhubarb pie?!

The tangy tart stalks in a warm custard base between two flaky crusts is a treat after a long winter of canned or frozen produce.

I always use Mom’s recipe, a recipe she got from a good friend years ago.

Mom’s Rhubarb Pie

crust for a 2 crust pie
3 cups rhubarb, washed and chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 eggs.

Wash and chop the rhubarb into bite size pieces, set aside.

In a bowl mix the sugars, flour, and eggs. Add the rhubarb and stir to coat.

Put the bottom crust into a 9 inch pie pan and fill with rhubarb. Cover with the top crust, trim and crimp the edges the together. Cut a design in the top crust for ventilation.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes until the rhubarb is soft and the crust is lightly browned.

It’s delicious warm or cold, although my favorite is to eat it warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream melting over the top!