My Love of Mexican Food

Do you ever buy those little recipe books that are  placed at the check out in the grocery?  You know, the one's published by Pillsbury and other companies.  They usually cost only a few dollars.  I love these books.  Some of my all time favorite recipes are from them.  You see, I read recipe books like novels.  I love searching for new things to try, many of which have become family favorites  made over and over through the years.

I apologize for the picture, it is not the best.  It does not do justice to this bread that is called "Mexican Fiesta Biscuit Bake" in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Cooking and Baking Contest recipe book, March, 1994.  It is an oldie but a goodie in our family and made the $2.75 paid for the book worth every penny spent.  This one is a definite "request" favorite. 

Our oldest daughter was in college at the time this book was purchased and I made the bread on one of her visits home.  She loved it, wrote the recipe down and took it back to school with her.  She went to a Conservatory in St. Louis.  Their musical theater class was small and they had a lot of potluck dinners because no one had any money and even less time due to the intensive program they were in.  It became an instant hit and was requested every time they had a dinner for the remainder of their time in school.  Many of them moved to New York after graduation and she continued to make it for "get togethers."

  My first encounter with Mexican food was the summer of 1960 when our family took a vacation trip to  Phoenix, Arizona.  It was the summer before my sixth grade year in school.  Our family had our first brand new car, but it had no air conditioning.  We drove to Phoenix, driving Route 66 most of the way.  I have been to St. Louis, Joplin, Missouri, Oklahoma City and it was mighty pretty.  I've seen Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico.  We drove through Salt River Canyon and I have never been that hot in my life since, but it was such an adventure.  One I will never forget.  I can say I definitely would not enjoy that drive today with no air conditioning! 

My parent's best friends had moved to Phoenix.  We spent the week with them and we had one amazing time.  One day for lunch, Bonnie, my mom's friend went to a taco stand and bought burritos, tacos, enchiladas, beans and rice for lunch.  The only word that comes to mind is ecstasy!  Needless to say, our southern Indiana hometown had nothing like this except a guy who sold tamales from a push cart!  I loved tamales a lot, but all these different foods were simply amazing.  We visited many times after 1960, and my biggest anticipation was always for the delicious Mexican food I knew we would get to enjoy.  It was many years before our southern Indiana home town would have the luxury of Mexican cuisine.

This recipe is really good and certainly not traditional Mexican food, but has all the flavors I love.  

Ingredients:

2 TBSP butter1 (17.3 oz) can Pillsbury Grands! refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1 (10.8 oz) can Pillsbury Grands! refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1 (16 oz) jar (1 3/4 cups) medium thick and chunky salsa (we like spicy but medium works too)

12 oz. ( cups) shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar Cheese

1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup sliced green onionssliced black olives if desired (2 1/4 oz can)

Directions:

Heat oven to 375.  Melt butter in oven in 13x9 inch glass baking dish or non-aluminum baking pan.  Tilt to evenly coat dish.  Separate dough into 13 biscuits, cut each biscuit into eighths.  Place biscuit pieces in large bowl; toss with 1 3/4 cups salsa.  Spoon evenly into baking dish.  Sprinkle with cheese, bell pepper, onions (and black olives if desired.)  Dan doesn't care for black olives so I usually leave them off.

Bake at 375 F for 35 to 45 minutes or until edges are deep golden brown and center is set.  Let stand 15 minutes.   Cut into squares, serve with 1 cup of salsa for dipping if desired.  12 to 15 servings.

Again, sorry about the picture.  We had eaten a lot of the bread when I realized I had not taken a picture.  Oops.  Hooray for all the flavors of Mexico.  They are still my favorite after all these years (and that's been a long, long time).

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

We are all the same, we just come in different wrappers.

Tyler's Favorite Cookies

 Today is our youngest son's 24th birthday.  Where has the time gone?  I really don't know.  He came into our life as a very big surprise, but he has been a joy and a blessing to us.  We had two daughters aged 15 and 13, and a son aged 10 when Tyler was born.  He always thought he was grown up because he spent so much of his time with his siblings and their friends.  He was only one year old the summer of our hometown's first all city summer musical, Music Man.  Dress rehearsal week, he sat in my lap ever so still.  Watching, listening, learning. The next summer when he was 2,  he could sing tidbits of the songs from Hello Dolly by the end of that first week.  He was totally absorbed in all the acting, dancing and music that he was surrounded by.  He was in his first show at age 3 as a child in a burning house in The Outsiders.  That same year, he danced with the villagers from Anatevka in Fiddler on the Roof.  He looked like a cricket up on the stage, dancing in a circle with everyone, but he knew the choreography!  He was hooked.  

Tyler played basketball, baseball and football.  His grandpa took him to play golf and saw that he had lessons.  He is blessed with natural athletic ability, but when it came time to decide which sport to play in high school, he chose acting, singing and dancing.  What a surprise!  He also is blessed with a beautiful voice and participated in the school choir.  His athletic abilities give him a natural grace on stage.  

Now, he is all grown up, working in Nashville, writing songs, singing when the opportunity arises, others are singing his songs.  We went to lunch today, taking Tyler and his girlfriend to a terrific barbecue restaurant of his choosing.  I watched his easy smile, listened to his wicked sense of humor and admired his good looks.  How could it have possibly been 24 years ago.  Where is that sweet little boy with the curly hair, standing on the hearth of the fireplace singing into the poker from the fireplace tools?  

He is all grown up and his mother could not love him any more.

Because we were always on a limited budget, I did not buy many prepared foods - especially snack foods . Everything was baked from scratch.  Not only was it cheaper, it was healthier if that is possible when it comes to sweets.  At least there were no preservatives or corn syrup in what they ate.  I did sometimes cheat on frosting because of time constraints.  Tyler's favorite cookies are a from a recipe I found many, many years ago in a magazine.  Could not tell you what magazine any more.  The recipe is written in my book I started 41 years ago when we were first married.  It is tattered, stuffed full of cut out magazine recipes, and pieces of paper.  There are no empty pages to write on any more and haven't been for years.  I keep a rubber band around it to keep it from exploding. Whenever it was Tyler's turn to choose what I was going to bake, he always chose these cookies.  

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 pkg large marshmallows, cut in half with kitchen scissors, approximately 18 whole marshmallows for 36 1/2 marshmallows.

1 can fudge frosting mix.

To make:

Sift dry ingredients together.  Beat well by hand vegetable oil, sugar, egg, vanilla, milk and add to dry ingredients. Do not use a mixer.  Add nuts.  Drop by spoonsful onto greased cookie sheet.  After baking 8 minutes at 350, remove from oven and press 1/2 marshmallow into each cookie.  Return to oven 2 minutes longer.  Cool and frost.  This recipe makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

You can frost with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting, which I have done.  I  often use Duncan Hines fudge frosting.  It's quicker and easier.   This recipe doubles easily.   These cookies were always requested by our friends at get togethers.  They are really, really good!   The cookie has a brownie like texture and there is the hidden surprise of the marshmallow when you bite into them.  

Thanks for letting me walk down memory lane today.  I hope you will give Tyler's favorite cookies a try, especially if you have a birthday celebration anytime soon.   I know you will love them!!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

There is nothing better than cookies and milk, unless it's cookies and a cup of hot coffee!  Yum!!  And, they will always make you think of someone you love.  

Those Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

It's only June 7 and it's already 96 degrees here in middle Tennessee.  Our average daytime temperature for this date normally is 85.  We are way above normal (and not in a good way).  The weather has been wacky up to this point, why should it change now?  

The 13 year cicada invasion is finally starting to subside and now it's time for  the mosquito invasion.  Other than that, we welcome the long, warm days and evenings of summer.  I will take them any day over shoveling snow and slipping and sliding on ice.  Oh yes, long days and evenings, sun, freshly mowed grass and flowers are always better than snow in my book.  It's not quite the same as when we were kids and could enjoy summer vacations from school, swimming, playing, evenings of kick the can and hide and seek with everyone in the neighborhood.  Most of us work all day with only evenings and weekends to enjoy and maybe a couple weeks of vacation.  So who wants to spend all their time cooking?  No one, that's who.

This is a recipe for a quick and easy salad that requires NO cooking, just some chopping.  You can use ANY vegetables that you like to eat raw.  For the salad in the picture I used the following:

1/2 head cauliflower
2 crowns broccoli
1 cup baby carrots, cut in bite sized pieces
1/2 container grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cucumber, peeled and sliced
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper

You can use onions, mushrooms, yellow squash or zucchini also.  Can't wait for the vegetable garden to start producing!  We will be using all kinds of fresh goodness for this salad!

Cut all the vegetables into bite sized pieces and place in a salad bowl.  Sprinkle liberally with dried basil and thyme.  Toss the vegetables, making sure they all have some of the herbs on them.  Now, pour 1/2 bottle red wine vinegar dressing over the vegetables and stir again.  Make sure all vegetables are coated with the dressing.  Tadah!  You are done.  You can make as much or as little as you want, just adjust the dressing accordingly.

This salad keeps well in the refrigerator and is a good one to take for a potluck dinner or picnic.  It makes a wonderful side when you are grilling out.  No worry about mayonnaise-based dressings going bad in the heat.  When you have eaten all the vegetables, cut up all the ones remaining, add more herbs and dressing.  Now, how easy is that?  I made this all the time when all the kids were home.  They loved it!  They would get it out and eat it as a snack.  It is so cool and refreshing and gets better as it sits.  You can eat it as soon as it is prepared or save it for later in the week, just store it with plastic wrap covering the bowl.   Give this salad a try, I think you are going to like it!

We are sitting on the deck, enjoying this lovely summer evening.  The temperature has dropped and the humidity is low.   Dan is playing his guitar while I type.  We have the deck lights on and the fountain going, listening to all the summer sounds of nature.  There are blooming plants all around us and there is a gentle breeze stirring the trees.  How much better can it get?  Wish you were here!

Everyday Donna

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy— Thich Nhat Hanh

Blackberry Winter and Soup

It has been really damp and cool the last two days.  My grandparents referred to this as Blackberry winter.  This cool weather is necessary to set the buds on blackberry plants so there will be juicy ripe berries to pick around the fourth of July.  There are a lot of "winters" in our part of the country.  Dogwood winter, redbud winter, strawberry winter and now blackberry winter.  Every time you think warm weather is here, it is time for something else to bloom and we get a little cold spell.  Hopefully, this is the end of them for this year.  I am ready for some consistently warm weather!

Cool days always make me want soup.  Soup is easy, nutritious, and goes a long way for little money.  Today, I am making chicken tortilla soup.  Yum.  This is my own recipe, one that I invented after having chicken tortilla soup in a restaurant.  It was really good and my thought was "I can come close to this!"  I don't always use  recipes, but I am going to share how I make this soup with you so I have been measuring ingredients as I prepare them.  This makes a lot of soup, but we eat it for days.  It is so nice to have something just to warm up when we get hungry and not have to prepare a full meal every time.  Saves money too!  When you make soup, make a lot.  You can freeze some of it for later, you can take some in your lunch and you have a quick and easy dinner when you get home.   You can always add a sandwich if you like, or a  salad.  We like jalapeno cheddar corn muffins with ours.  (see recipe below)
I make this in a 12 quart pot.  It makes about 6 quarts of soup or 1/2 pot.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 32 ounce boxes of chicken stock (I use Aldi's Fit and Active....low sodium, no msg and fat free)
8 cups water
3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, I get 3 skinless breasts at Aldi's for around $5.00 (or you can boil  a whole chicken if you want to pick it off the bone or use one of the roasted ones from the grocery, just remove the skin)
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces (2 cups)
1 cup carrots peeled and cut into 1/2 inch medallions
l large onion cut into 1 inch pieces
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 can rotelle with chilis
1 15 ounce can black beans drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 cup rice
cumin, to taste (I used 1.5 Tbsp)
salt if needed

Grated cheddar cheese
Your favorite tortilla chips

Boil chicken breasts whole in stock and water until done, about 30-40 minutes.  They are done when white all the way through.  Remove breasts.  If the water/stock has gone down a lot due to cooking, I add more water at this point.  I like the pot 1/2 full of liquid.  Add the diced vegetables, crushed tomatoes, rotelle with chilis and let cook until potatoes and carrots are soft. Add black beans, corn and rice, let cook until rice is no longer hard.  At this point, I add cumin and salt to taste. Cumin gives it that lovely smokey taste that makes the soup so good.   Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and add to soup and let heat through.  Time to serve!

 Put chips and cheese on the table in serving bowls.  Add the amount of grated cheese you want to your bowl of soup (it melts fast when soup is hot) and crumble tortilla chips on top of soup.  Enjoy!


Jalapeno cheddar cornbread -- very easy!

Mince 6 or seven pickled jalapeno slices (these are about the size of a nickel, not whole jalpenos)
Grate your favorite cheese (we like cheddar)
1 box jiffy  cornbread mix
1 can creamed corn
1 egg


Add 1 can creamed corn and egg to Jiffy Cornbread mix.  Stir until mix is no longer dry and egg is blended in.  Add jalapenos and about 1/2 cup cheese.  You can bake these as muffins or in a round pan.  We prefer muffins as they are easy to reheat if there are leftovers.  They need to bake a little longer than the box calls for because of the creamed corn.  Bake until golden brown.  Remove.  Delicious with some butter on them.


Our kitchen is filling with the wonderful smell of soup and it's making my mouth water.  I can honestly say I am looking forward to this delicious meal and we will have a few lunches and dinners ready for the rest of the week.   I only used one pot, and a few utensils and bowls.  Now how easy is that?

It is supposed to warm up by the end of the week which will be very welcome, but for tonight, we will be enjoying a delicious, filling meal and I will have a few day's reprieve from meal preparation.  That leaves a LOT more time for all my creative projects.  Give this recipe a try.  I hope you enjoy it.

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:

“You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” - Ruth Smeltzer

One Thing Always Leads To Another

You know how changing one thing in a room always leads to another change?  That is what happened after I made the shell wreath last week and hung it on the wall.  I liked the way it looked so much, that the centerpiece on the table looked out of place and in need of a little summer "pick me up."

The Old Time Pottery had a big sale a few weeks ago and I purchased some new place mats in a beautiful sea blue color for the table for only $.88 each which was a great price.  There were some napkins that I loved there in blues and tans which reminded me of the beach and ocean for only $.78 each (another bargain), so they all came home with me.  They had been sitting in the sack since then waiting for an inspiration.  The shell wreath was that inspiration.

Because we have to put a leaf in the table when we have company, I like my centerpiece to be something that can be moved easily without dismantling it every time and then having to put it back together.  This is what I came up with for the summer.

This centerpiece is easy and inexpensive. All of these items came from Dollar Tree (where else)?   I used a metal tray from the wedding section, two bags of sea glass in blues, greens and shades of tan,  a small basket of shells, a cylinder vase, two tea light candleholders and some yellow orchids.  If you are not familiar with sea glass, it is glass found on beaches along oceans, bays, rivers or large lakes that has been tumbled and smoothed by the waves, water and sand, creating smooth, frosted shards of glass. (Wikipedia). 
Sea glass comes in lots of different colors and shades and is really beautiful.  There will be another project with sea glass that I will show you later.

I placed the cylinder vase in the center of the tray,  mixed the sea glass so all colors were represented and put some in the bottom of the vase, filling it about 1/3 full.  Then, I set a tea light holder on either side of the vase.  I put 3 of the orchids in the vase and filled it with water.  The orchids were on a bush and I simply pulled three of the flowers off the stems.  The "silk" flowers we buy are really polyester for the most part and will float in water and are MUCH cheaper than real orchids.  Also, they do not have to be replaced every few days which is a plus.  (If you were using this centerpiece for a party or wedding reception, you might choose fresh orchids.)  Now, I mixed the shells and the remaining sea glass around the vase and candle holders on the tray.  I added a tea light to each candleholder and put one to float in the water in the vase.  Could that be any easier?  Total cost for this centerpiece would be $8.00.   This would also be great for a luau party, birthday party, shower or wedding reception.  The orchids are available in several colors, but I chose yellow because it goes with our decor.

Now, I needed some napkin rings.  Here is what I did - cheap and easy.  My two most favorite words.

The wire came from, you guessed it, Dollar Tree!  It also comes in several other colors, but I chose  the blue.  You will need some wire cutters and something round to make your shape.  I used the center from a roll of toilet paper.  I wrapped a piece of wire around the tube, leaving about a 2 inch overlap.   I opened the wire out and cut 5 more pieces the same length because I needed 6 napkin rings.  Next, I wrapped each piece of wire around the tube to make it round in shape and finished the top this way.  Wrap the left side of the wire over the right side, under and over .  Like this:

Now, wrap the left side over and under.  Then, use your wire cutters like pliers and bend the end of the wires into loops like this:

Doing this gives you a place to glue a shell.  I picked 6 shells of approximately the same size, placed a dollop of hot glue on the underside of each shell and placed in on the "figure 8" at the top of the wire.  The shells came from the basket of shells used for the centerpiece.

I placed the shell napkin rings around the napkins and finished decorating the table.  Two of the place mats were turned vertically so it gave the effect of a table runner down the center of the table.  We turn them horizontally when we are having dinner.  I just liked the way it looked.   Now, we have a beach look for summer and it is one more thing to help tie the beach/cottage look of the room together.

We may not have an ocean view out the window, but this will be a reminder of all the wonderful times we have spent at the beach.  Sure wish I was there now!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

‎"Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that."

- Norman Vincent Peale

Wishing I Was At The Beach - How To Make A Shell Wreath

There is nothing better than sun, sand, and surf.  Nothing.  Did I say nothing?   And that is how I feel. I would love to live on the beach with a front window view of the ocean.  Unfortunately, that is not where I live.    Summertime is here in middle Tennessee and it is plenty hot already, but it is not like being at the beach.  So, I will do the next best thing and use a beach theme in the little yellow cottage.   This season there are a lot of decorative accessories with a beach theme and many are very inexpensive.  That is just  my price range.

Thursday morning I was watching the Today show and there was a segment on how to make your house more cottage or beach like.  Um hmmm.  Just my style.  I have been working on our little yellow cottage, making some changes in my decorating style and I have been adding some beach type items.  As they panned the set, they showed a fabulous shell wreath that really made me sit up and take notice.  The person doing the segment said they had copied it from a wreath costing $150.00.  Excuse me?  Did you say $150.00?  Whoa.  They had done a DIY and made their own.  Well, the creative juices started flowing immediately and I knew exactly where I could get a lot of shells.  Big Lots!  Time for a road trip.

Here are my shell finds from Big Lots.  I bought two of the $4.00 bags of shells and one of the baskets of six starfish for $6.00.  I had an 18 inch straw wreath which cost about $2.00.  Time to get out the glue gun, heat it up and start gluing!  First, make a hanger on the wreath by putting a piece of wire around the wreath, twisting it and making a loop, twisting again.  I visually divided the wreath into north, south, east and west.  I laid down a patch of shells at each point and then filled in between the sections.  I used as many of the flat shells as I could to cover the top, inside and outside of the wreath leaving no wreath "form" showing.  Leave the back of the wreath open with no shells on it so it will lay flat against the wall.

Some of the shells were big and they covered a lot of area.  I used the smaller shells to fill in the gaps.  It took me about an hour and a half to make the wreath.  Once all of the area was covered, I went back and filled in with all of the little decorative shells and added two starfish (as you can see in the picture).  I made a "bow" by looping sisal back and forth and tied it in the middle, gluing it to the center of the wreath. I left two long tails on the bow.  I cut the tails to different lengths and glued a small starfish onto each length.  Below is a picture of what the shells look like close up so you can see how closely I placed them.

After I finished gluing all the shells on, I removed all of the glue "webs" and hung it on the wall.  There were just enough shells in the two packages to cover  the 18 inch wreath.  Could anything make you feel more "beach like"?  I don't think so.  I had a few starfish left so I placed them in a small basket on the cabinet to continue the theme.   One of these days I will post a picture of my mantle, which also has a bit of a shabby chic/beach theme. The wreath helps tie the room together.  Things are looking very beachy here in the little yellow cottage and that puts a smile on my face.

For less than $20.00 and a little time, you can make a beautiful shell wreath that can be used year after year.  Don't you love saving money?  I sure do!  Now, if only there were an ocean out my front window.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

‎"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." Anais Nin