Category: MISC

Tuesday's Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping

Celery Seed Dressing
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 cup salad oil


Blend together in small food processor for 3 minutes. Chill. This is a thick dressing so shake vigorously before serving. I spooned a small portion into a bowl and microwaved it for a few seconds and served it warm. It thins out dramatically when warmed. It was yummy!


Keep bottled in refrigerator

Recipe (page 85) adapted from ‘A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband’ by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron

Give Me 5 Monday

Give Me Five favorite green things or your favorite ways to be green or favorite things about St. Patrick’s day or mix and match!
1) Spring – new grass, new leaves
2) Recycling – cardboard, aluminum, glass
3) Salads and veggies
4) Money (who doesn’t)
5) composting wet waste

Happy ST. Patrick’s Day

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

Menu Plan Monday

I also do Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy, so this is making a great addition to help keeping me on track and finding so new recipes!

Unconscious Mutterings

  1. Paranormal :: ghosts
  2. Alarm :: always too early
  3. Operative :: spy
  4. Changing :: diapers
  5. Framed :: picture
  6. Beer :: cold & icy
  7. Referral :: discount
  8. Unmasked :: Superman
  9. Movie star :: 1940’s
  10. Handbook :: Girl Scouts
Free association is described as a “psychonanalytic procedure in which a person is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content.” Over time, this technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self.

That’s an admirable goal, but for the purposes of this excercise, we’re just hoping to have a little fun with the technique. Each week I’ll post ten words to which you can respond to with the first thing that comes to mind.

“Rules are, there are no rules.” There are no right or wrong answers. Don’t limit yourself to one word responses; just say everything that pops into your head. AND you don’t have to have your words up on Sunday. Take all week if you want! Read the FAQ for more information.

Photo Hunt: I Spy

About the PhotoHunt: A theme is given for each Saturday. Post a photo that best represents the theme. New and old photos welcome but must be from your personal collection and not photos obtained from the web. Play along once a week by posting your photo on your site.

Friday's Feast

Appetizer

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as highest), how much do you like your own handwriting? Depends on when I wrote something, but probably about a 7.

Soup

Do you prefer baths or showers? Showers 99 % of the time, but that other 1% is reserved for long hot bubble baths.

Salad

What was the last bad movie you watched? Can’t remember the name it was so bad!

Main Course

Name something you are addicted to and describe how it affects your life. Caffeine ~ just can’t live without it!

Dessert

Which instrument is your favorite to listen to? Depends on my mood, but I guess I’d have to say the piano most of the time.

CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN with PEPPERED GRAVY

Chicken Fried Chicken

2 large boneless chicken breasts
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2-4 tablespoons butter(enough to keep chicken from burning~add as necessary)

Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts. In a shallow glass pan, pour buttermilk over chicken 1-2 hours prior to cooking. Make sure to coat chicken well and turn at least once during soaking. Drain, but do NOT rinse the buttermilk off.

In a medium sized fry pan melt the butter over medium heat. As butter melts and begins to very slightly sizzle, prepare breasts.

In a small ziploc bag mix together the flour, salt and pepper. One at a time, put each chicken breast in bag and coat well with flour mix and then into sizzling butter. Cook on one side until edges begin to bleed and then turn. About 6 minutes each side depending on plumpness. Keep chicken warm.

Peppered Gravy

3 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons Wondra flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk
3/4 cup whipping cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Black pepper + (to taste)

Melt butter into bottom of pan you just cooked the chicken in. Scrape up any of the chicken pieces and mix into new butter. Add flour slowly, stirring until absorbed by butter and golden brown. Slowly add first the milk and then the cream. Stir constantly until thickens. If necessary sprinkle in more Wondra until desired thickness is reached. Serve over chicken and mashed potatoes.

It's Easter and I'm so Blessed – Look what was just delivered!

My Easter Swap Pal Jill, over at Baliwick Designs, sent me this super fantastic Easter Basket full of goodies.

Up through the center of the adorable ivy covered basket was this beautiful purple German bearded silk iris which I ironically have a bouquet of here in the house to remind me of my antique ones in the garden. I only get to those in the spring and summer.

All around the flowers were all sorts of goodies: a new pair of gardening gloves and packets of flower and herb seeds, purple floral lavender sachets (which are perfect for the spare bedroom), black currant scone mix (which is my favorite by the way), a See’s Candy Bordeaux Egg (my absolute favorite all time candy that I can’t get here), hand made scrap booking tags, a loofa and some wonderful smelling soap, pastel Chinese take out boxes full of candies, the cutest resin rabbit, a “B” magnet, a floral initial T, a spiral note book that will fit oh so well in my purse, C Howard’s Violet mints and the most wonderful surprise of all was the bag addressed to hubby and one to the dogs too! How perfectly sweet she is to remember them. I have been so blessed with this Easter swap partner. THANK YOU JILL!