Meringue Matters

Last Monday, I hosted my monthly meeting of the Fleur de lis Ladies. It was a smallish group that day, but nonetheless, entertaining as always, and full of instruction for me...

For this meeting, I made an Old Fashioned Sour Cream Raisin Pie, Neighbor Dorothy's Heavenly Carmel Cake, and Naomi's Cheese Pimento Spread (the last two from Fannie Flagg's books)
I thoroughly enjoy entertaining my Fleur Gals and really wanted to make a special treat for them.
Why in the world I thought that with my horrible history with meringue, a meringue topped pie should be my choice, is beyond me. I guess it was a moment of complete dufus competence.

So my ladies got to be extra gracious this month, while crunching my way over beaten eggs, yet rich raisin pie innards.
One thing that happened due to this debacle, the Wisdom of the Ages appeared and gave me varied Meringue Tips that I quickly wrote down for further Adventures in Meringue.
Thanks to Ruth (age 92), Joyce (near 70?), Priscilla (age 80) and Jennie Lee's fun laughter at my pitiful attempts at meringue, for making it a grand meeting....

What I Learned About Making Meringue:
1. Use extra fine sugar if possible (maybe powdered sugar?)
2. Eggs should be at room temperature
3. If by chance, you get some yolk in your egg whites (which, of course, I did), use the shell to gather it up; works like a straw (I used a spoon; fought it all the way..)
4. If all else fails, use 2 tbs marshmallow creme to make it stand up pretty
5. Big mistake I made: Cold, cold for whipping cream; room temp for eggs....Got it backwards, hence, crunchy meringue....

May you be blessed as you make the Merriest of Meringue for you next To-Do....

The Most Creative Job in the World....

Was called to my recipe files today for Baby Girl. She and Hubby are hibernating in the cold of northern Indiana, with school not is session and workplace still on vacation. So one's thoughts go to comfort food......right?!

Whilst looking for her requested recipes for her brand newlywed files, I stumbled across this bit of parchment. I believe in the winter of 1983, in a young woman's bible study, the leader handed these out to us, as kind of a new year's encouragement....

I had it framed for years; lots of pressure to this non working, stay at home mama in the women's liberation era......
It became my mantra of sorts...
And it's still applicable with certain technological updates....

Enjoy!

The Most Creative Job in the World:
It involves:
Taste, fashion, decorating, recreation, education, transportation, psychology, romance, cuisine, designing, literature, medicine, handicraft, art, horticulture, economics, government, community relations, pediatrics, geriatrics, entertainment, maintenance, purchasing, direct mail, law, accounting, religion, energy and management.
Anyone who can handle all these has to be somebody special. She is. She's a homemaker.

Dinosaur Playdough

Grant came to visit today. His first time as a solo visitor and not officially being babysat. Just for fun.

Grant knows his way around a kitchen so what should our first craft project be? Playdough!
He decided that we should color it yellow, Nana's favorite color.....

But wait a minute! We still have three little bottles of color left. And they do have those cute little pointed caps. And the bottles are tiny, just right for a two year old's hand...
Okay. Let's add some of the red. Grant, when you mix red with yellow, what do you get? Quick answer: Orange! (his daddy asked him last week who the president was, after mama said that she thought he wouldn't quite meet the requirement of kindegarten, provided he was five years old. His answer was an immediate, "Obama". Two years old plus change.

As you can see, we did not stop with the red bottle. We worked our way through till most of the colors were gone except for the pure green on Grant's hand and Nana's arm. (don't ask) As we were off to lunch with our green hands/arms, we proudly announced that we had made Dinosaur playdough.

Grant is pictured here making snakes for his daddy, mama and Gracie......

What a day!

Thank you, Grant......

Here's the recipe we used from online:

4 cups flour

4 cups water

1 cup salt

1/2 cup cream of tartar

4 tbls oil

Mix all together in large saucepan till it heats and starts to get thick. If your lucky, a small child will color it for you at this point. Knead with a little flour if 'needed' *hee hee*....

Knead till smooth. Store in a zip lock bag. Have fun making snakes.

Bags and a Bonus!

The promised sauce recipe!
The Too Many Tomatoes Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

3 lbs of tomatoes, chopped
1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small can tomato paste
2 paste cans of water
3 leaves of fresh basil, chopped finely
1 tbls oregano
3 leaves of fresh parsley
1 tbls italian seasoning
3 tbls sugar
3 tbls kosher salt
1 tsp course ground pepper
1 oz can tomato sauce
1 tbl olive oil
1 tsp butter

Heat the oil and butter and add chopped onions and garlic till onions are clear. Add the chopped tomatoes slowly (puree if you have a food mill but I like the chunkiness of the fresh tomatoes) and add spices. Stir well. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer about an hour. Yum.

For last night's dinner, I added low calorie meatballs:

1/2 lb. Italian sausage
1 lb. ground chicken
1 egg
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
2 leaves of fresh parsley, finely chopped

Mix all with your hands and form into balls about an inch and a half in diameter. Place on a pie plate in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour....



And the newest bags completed!

The wonderfully HUGE Birdie Sling from Amy Butler! The fabric from Craft Town in Salem Indiana, a wonderful store with ever so friendly, helpful staff......

My turn, my turn!! A bag for myself!

Used fabric from First Class Clutter and an embellishment, courtesy of the attic in my home in Moline, many years ago....The purse is comfy and easy to get into and is lined with an amazing silk from Jan at FCC as well.....

Ah, sweet indulgence....

The Italian Job

Growing up, two of my really good friends were second generation Italian American. I got very used to the wonderful sauces and lovely Italian influenced gardens of their homes. I got used to being affectionately called a 'mick' whenever I went to their house. If I had to endure the gentle teasing to be able to taste their cuisine, then so be it.

Naturally, I have an affinity for Italian food. Anytime, anywhere.

So it seemed natural that when the 2G's Mama arrived today with over ten pounds of tomatoes from their garden, that I would plan on having homemade spaghetti sauce for supper! The 2G's mama is very half Italian with a half of Irish but when I look at her, I see the dominant Italian coming out. I see it in Grant as well....

Several years ago, the 2G's mama asked me if I had a pizzelles press. Of course I did! If it is unusual in the kitchen, I have it....I have four spring form pans, a crepe maker, an odd assortment of layer cake pans and many molds. That's another part of Mama's Collection...All things old, odd and cool. It turns out the pizzelle maker was purchased from a garage sale from a now mutual friend of ours, Michele. How odd is that? I knew that Grant would love digging into the process and it was a great deal of flurry that he drug his chair into the kitchen to help Nana make cookies. He helps his mama a lot in the kitchen, so he knew his tablespoons from his teaspoons and was enamored with my red handled flour sifter. He looked dubiously at the finished product but obediently took a bite of the luscious concoction.

I have no idea how many pizzelles we actually made since Grant and I kept up with the maker pretty good. I would take the rough edges off so he could have a pristine cookie; amazing how rugged those cookies became! Oh what fun it all was!

Whatever your ethnic inclination, you must find a pizzelle iron and indulge yourself...

Here's the recipe we used....

(from allrecipes online by Marianne Jungels)

Pizzelles III

3 eggs

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 tbls vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsps baking powder

in a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thick. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla. Sift together the flour and baking powder, and blend into the batter until smooth.

Heat the pizzelle iron, and brush with oil. Drop about one tablespoon of batter onto each circle on the iron. You may need to experiment with the amount of batter and baking time depending on the iron. Bake for 20-45 seconds or until steam is no longer coming out of the iron. Carefully remove cookies from the iron. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

For chocolate pizzelles, add 1/4 cup cocoa sifted together with flour and aking powder, 1/4 cup more sugar and 1/4 tsp more baking powder. You might need more oil on the iron for the chocolate variety.

Tomorrow, the recipe for Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce!