Friday, August 26, 2016

BOOK: Always Bring Your Towel

I decided a couple of weeks ago that it was necessary for me to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. A bit of browsing on Amazon led me to The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This volume contains the entire 5-book series, which it turns out is a good thing, since the books are not very long.
I have thus far finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and am currently in the middle of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I am completely in awe at the vastness and complexity of Adams' imagination, quite like I generally am when I read anything by Stephen King. The ability to create such ways of looking at reality just impresses me, as does the ability to create new worlds.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction, especially funny science fiction, and because there are a lot of books that refer to the Guide, reading the series will help you be "in the know" when you see the references.

HOOK: Joyalicious Summer Bag

Last year I began working on a purse for myself, but I ended up setting it aside without making any notes about what size hook I was using (since I was using a different size than indicated in the pattern). I went to keep working on it a couple of weeks ago, and discovered this hook problem. So I ripped the whole thing apart and started again.
At that point, I realized that I hadn't been following the pattern at all! There were a couple of steps I couldn't figure out in the pattern, and I was just tired of trying to work it out. I had found another (paid) pattern, the Joyalicious Summer Bag, and the yarn I was using would work really well for it.
I worked on the new bag for a couple of nights. I decided not to line it, and I changed the strap from what the pattern said, and this is what I made. I love it!

COOK: Chicken-Wild Rice Hotdish

I blew my family's mind last night. I served this hotdish and the girls told me it was the best meal I've made all summer, and Troy ate thirds!
I based the recipe off Betty Crocker's Turkey and Wild Rice Casserole, but I had to change a few things around to accommodate what we like in our house and what ingredients I had.

5 cups water
3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain brown rice
3/4 cup uncooked wild rice
Bring rice to a boil in a large pot. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 45-50 minutes until rice is done and water is absorbed.

4 tbs butter
4 tbs flour
Salt, pepper, Wildtree scampi blend
4 cups milk
Melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour and seasonings. Cook about a minute until slightly browned. Whisk in the milk gradually and cook, stirring frequently, until thickened.

 1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp thyme
Salt & pepper to taste
Combine the white sauce, sour cream, broth, Parmesan and seasonings in a bowl. Mix in the cooked rice and about 4 cups (or 1 pound) cut up cooked chicken. Spoon into a casserole dish and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
Makes about 8 servings and a very happy family.

I served this with peas on the side.

For dessert, I peeled, halved, and pitted about 10 peaches. I placed them in a baking dish and poured a melted stick of butter over them. I placed 1/2 tsp brown sugar in each cavity and sprinkled the whole with cinnamon. I baked them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and served them warm with vanilla ice cream.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

COOK: Biscuits and Gravy

I made the most amazing biscuits and gravy for supper the other night. I made my usual baking powder biscuits but used a larger cutter so there were 7 large biscuits instead of 14-ish smaller ones. Then I had some ground pork in the freezer from my share of the hog my brother got last fall, so I found this recipe at Allrecipes.com: Breakfast Sausage.
I browned the sausage and spooned the meat into a separate bowl. I sprinkled about 1/3 cup flour over the drippings and cooked for a couple of minutes until the roux was browned. I gradually stirred in 3 cups of milk and whisked until it was thick. I added salt and pepper to the gravy and returned the meat to the pan. I served the hot gravy over hot biscuits, split on the plate.
Yum, yum, yum.