Easy Breezy Summer Recipe

When you work all week you really hope your weekends will be restful... at least as much as they can be.  There are plenty of activities to keep you busy, especially in warmer weather and ESPECIALLY if you have children.  If it's baseball season, you can spend the whole weekend sitting at the ball field, or at least it seems like it's the whole weekend.  Been there, done that.  Next it will be swimming season, vacation season, summer camps, all those never ending summer activities we try to squeeze into every minute of every day.  And of course, there is the never ending yard work.  Mowing and trimming, trimming and mowing.

With summer rapidly approaching, you (the main cook) would like to spend as much time out of doors enjoying all the things you love to do too, instead of slaving over a stove.   But everyone still needs to eat.  Don't even think "carry out" although dinner can get later and later as the sun stays up longer and longer.  Mealtime can be stressful, especially if you are the one who makes the meals.  What to do, what to do?  Here is a quick and easy solution to make a weekend or weekday meal that is simple and easy, 30 minutes start to finish.  Our children loved this meal and so did I because it is so easy and economical!  It's Everyday Donna's chili mac.  Put away that box of Hamburger Helper!  It's not needed.  This quick dinner is tasty, easy, and will become a "go to" for you, summer or winter.

Ingredients

1 pound hamburger (I used local grass fed beef, it is more expensive but is much leaner, no fat)
1 medium onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup elbow macaroni
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
2 cups water
salt to taste
1 TBSP chili powder (more if needed, we like it spicy)
2 cups shredded cheese (white Mexican, cheddar or mozzarella)

Directions

Dice onion, mince garlic cloves.  Put ground beef in large skillet, add onions and garlic.  Brown all together.  Add salt to taste.   Add dry macaroni, tomato sauce, and 1 cup water.  Stir, making sure all macaroni is covered by water.  Add chili powder.  Stir to make sure macaroni doesn't stick to bottom of pan.  Watch.  As water goes down, add second cup of water.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until water has been absorbed and macaroni is done.  Taste.  Add more salt and chili powder if desired.  Put into casserole dish, top with shredded cheese.  Put in 350 oven until cheese melts.  Done!

How easy was that?  All natural ingredients, no preservatives.  This will serve 4 easily.  Dan and I have leftovers for tomorrow which is even better!  You can double this recipe easily if you have a larger family.  When all 6 of us were home, I always made more since the two boys could eat most of it.

This is so good served with a  green salad and some kind of bread.  Tonight, I heated tortillas and made honey butter for the tortillas.

Honey Butter

2 TBSP butter, softened in microwave
2/3 TBSP honey

Stir together until completely mixed.  Great to dip your tortillas in!  Helps cut the heat of the chili mac.

How to kick it up a notch!

Sliced avocado
sour cream
pickled jalapeno slices
Hot sauce

Any or all of the above can be added to your chili mac for a little more interest!  I put the "kickers" in a bowl so everyone can add what they want.   Such a quick and easy supper.  What more could you ask for?  Hope you will give this recipe a try.  We think you're going to like it.

Enjoy all the coming summer days.  I know we sure are!

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:


When you think you're in an impossible situation, take a moment to acknowledge that although you do not consciously know how to solve the problem, you know a solution exists and you're open to receiving it. 
Cynthia Occelli

I Need CHOCOLATE

That sudden overwhelming urge comes over me.  I need chocolate and soon.  Ever have that feeling?  So, I asked Dan if he would eat something chocolate if I made it and without hesitation he replied "Yes!"
You know what that means?  Get out the baking stuff.

To me there is something so comforting about baking.  Measuring and mixing.  It makes me happy.  I baked my first cake from scratch when I was 10.  Yes, it was lopsided but good.  No one refused to eat it.  Well, it's Friday night and we need a treat so I am going to share the easiest cake recipe in the world with you.  Really.  It's so easy.

I always keep a few cake mixes in the pantry for emergencies and this is an emergency.  We need chocolate.....soon.  Here is the recipe and I bake it in a bundt pan.  You can bake it in a 9x13 if you want.  I just like the way it looks from a bundt pan.  Remember the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding about the "boont" cake?  Still makes me laugh.  Anyway, here it is

1 chocolate cake mix
2 large eggs
1 21 oz. can of cherry pie filling

Yup, that's it.  Now mix them all together until there is no shiny egg showing or dry cake mix.  At this point, I spray my non-stick bundt pan with cooking spray just so the cake doesn't stick. Now, you can put the cake mix in the pan and spread evenly.  This is where you and I may part ways.  I  like to doctor my cake up a bit.  I add:

1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, whichever I have on hand.

As Emeril says, we just took it up a notch...or two.

Mix any or all of the above ingredients into the cake mix and NOW pour it in the pan.  You may not like coconut, or nuts, or chocolate chips, or like us you may like all three.  It's your choice.   Bake at 350
until a toothpick comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Let the cake cool and turn it onto a plate.  I put mine on my cake stand because it looks pretty.  Now, you can dust it with confectioner's sugar OR you can make a chocolate glaze first......which I do.  This is how you do it:

2 TBSP butter in small saucepan
approx. 1/2  cup confectioner's sugar
2 heaping TBSPs unsweetened cocoa
1 TBSP of milk at a time

Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring with wooden spoon so it doesn't burn.  Add confectioner's sugar, cocoa and 1 TBSP of milk.  Stir to combine all ingredients until it is chocolate in appearance and all lumps have disappeared.  Add just a little milk if necessary, like a tsp at a time.  The glaze needs to be pourable, not too thick.  When it is the desired consistency, remove pan from stove.

Pour chocolate glaze over the cake.  Dust with confectioner's sugar.  I use my tea strainer and put a couple teaspoons full of confectioner's sugar in it, rub the edge of the spoon back and forth over the sugar moving the strainer around the cake.  It looks like snow falling on your cake.  There is more control this way than if you use a sifter.  Or, you may have a shaker container that you fill with sugar and shake it on the cake.  Any of these ways will work.

Now, it's time to dig in.  This dense chocolaty cake is wonderful with a hot cup of coffee, a glass of cold milk, with ice cream or without.  However you like to eat it.  Any way will do and any way is delicious!

This is a good "go to" recipe when you need a cake in an emergency.  I have also made it with yellow cake mix which is delicious too.  It's your decision.  I just know it is quick and easy and especially great for a chocolate emergency.

This is also a great picnic cake which you could take to a Memorial Day gathering next weekend. You could even make cupcakes to take.  Everyone loves cupcakes.   I may make this and some good homemade vanilla ice cream to take to a gathering we are going to attend.  Or maybe a strawberry dream cake, or strawberry shortcake, or whatever strikes my fancy next weekend.  Anyway, give this recipe a try and I hope you will enjoy it.

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:

Love is all there is.

Soaking Up Some Vitamin D

Thankfully, the sun finally decided to show it's face in mid-Tennessee today and it was certainly appreciated.  It heated up to a balmy 72 degrees, so that meant it was time for some yard maintenance.  The vegetable garden needed weeding, there were recently purchased blooming plants to repot, deck furniture to clean and trees and shrubs to trim.


Dan weeded the garden while I repotted plants.  I had bought lovely red geraniums, electric red-orange and yellow gerbera daisies, and red and purple petunias.   After transferring to decorative pots, I put some of the plants around my grecian urn fountain, added a boston fern and a red mandevilla.  Other pots were placed around the deck and on the steps.  Colorful patio lights are hung from the deck rail (purple, blue, emerald green and fuchsia) ready for all the summer nights ahead. The birdbath was cleaned and set up awaiting all it's winged summer visitors.  Dan trimmed low hanging tree branches while I gave all the holly bushes their summer haircut.  Things are starting to shape up.  Dan turned over ground for the herb garden.  We planted a few more heirloom tomatoes, basil, rosemary, dill, oregano, cilantro and thyme.  Nice.  Now it's time to move to the front porch.  


We have a bench our daughter Annie made when she was in middle school. That was some time ago.  It has always had a place of honor on our front porch, so it was cleaned and given it's rightful place.  Red and purple petunias were planted in the big planter on the porch, and a boston fern was hung from the porch eaves.  The white vintage ice cream table sits waiting for us anytime we want to drink our morning coffee on the porch.  Hot and tired, we were done for the day.


We went around back to sit on the deck and cool down.  I listened to the fountain joyously bubbling as I at in the sun, soaking up some vitamin D.  A delicate butterfly landed on my arm.  I sat ever so still until it decided to depart.  Dan named it Bob.  Nature showed all it's glory today, the magnificent magnolia tree in bloom, the scent of honeysuckle in the air, gentle breezes beginning to blow.  The Clarke Oil tug chugged down the Cumberland as it does every day.  Time for the General Jackson to turn around and head down river.   There is comfort in predictability sometimes.  


As I sat in my chair cooling down, I thought of all the wonderful drinks I can make this summer to enjoy  outdoors.  Easy, natural ingredients, cool and refreshing.  I thought I would share some of these recipes with you since Memorial Day is rapidly approaching and the official summer season begins.  My thoughts turned to sweet tea and fresh squeezed lemonade.  Ever try cucumber water or fruit flavored water?  How about celery soda?  So delicious.  Here are the recipes.  I use a 3 quart pitcher so you may have to adjust the recipes slightly if you use a different size.


SWEET TEA


4 small tea bags, or 2 large family sized tea bags.  I prefer Luzianne Tea
simple syrup
cold water


Place 4 tea bags or 2 large family sized tea bags in about 2 cups of water in a pan on the stove.  Heat water and tea just until it boils.  Remove from heat and let tea steep for at least 5 minutes.  Make the simple syrup by adding 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water.  Heat while stirring just until the sugar melts.  Remove the tea bags from pan and pour tea into pitcher.  Add simple syrup.  Add about 10 cups of cold water.  Put tea bags back in pan and run cold water over them, squeezing any excess tea from bags.  Add to pitcher. Pour over ice in glasses and enjoy.  You can add lemon slices or mint if you prefer.


FRESH SQUEEZED LEMONADE


6 whole lemons
simple syrup
cold water


Heat lemons in microwave for 30 seconds.  This helps extract more juice from lemons.  When lemons cool, roll on counter top with your hand until lemons feel softer.  Cut lemons in half and juice.  I use an old fashioned juicer, but you can use a reamer or one of those newfangled juice extractors that are yellow and you put 1/2 a lemon in and bring the handles together extracting juice.  One of these days I will get one of those.  After juicing all 12 lemon halves, I pour the juice into the pitcher through a strainer to remove pulp and seeds.   Add the simple syrup and about 10 cups of cold water.  Slice 1/2 a lemon into rings and place in lemonade.  Place ice cubes in glasses and pour lemonade.  There is nothing powdered that tastes like fresh squeezed lemonade.  Nothing!   If you want to fancy it up a bit, add some sliced strawberries or a handfull of raspberries.  So good on a hot day!  It lemonade tastes too watery, add more lemon juice as needed,




CUCUMBER WATER


1 small cucumber or 1/2 large cucumber, thinly sliced


Place cucumbers in the bottom of pitcher, add about 12 cups water.  Place in refrigerator overnight.  You can addd the juice of one lime if you want, or some sliced honeydew melon.  So delicious and refreshing on hots days.  They drink a lot of this in the southwest.  Unbelievably good.




FRUIT FLAVORED WATER


6 strawberries, sliced in half
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
2 slices orange
6 slices cucumber
1/4 cup cilantro or mint, whichever you prefer (I like Cilantro)


Place in pitcher, add about 12 cups cold water.  Place in refrigerator overnight.  So, so good and no sugar added.  Don't toss fruit out, can be used for several days until strawberries get squishy, just keep filling pitcher with water




CELERY SODA

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup water

2 TBSP freshly ground celery seed

soda water

Place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Stir to combine.  Continue to stir frequently until all sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and add celery seed.  Cover and allow to steep for 1 hour.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a heat proof container and place in refrigerator uncovered until completely cool.  Place in an airtight container and store up to 6 months.

TO USE:  add 2 TBSP celery syrup to 1 cup soda water and stir to combine

This is Alton Brown's recipe from the Food Network.  I made this for our daughter in Dallas when we were there in the heat of summer.  She also used it with Prosecco to make a refreshing cocktail.  Sweet and delicious!

These are just a few of the possibilities for refreshing summer drinks.  I hope you try these recipes and enjoy them throughout the summer.   Let the fun begin!

Things to remember:

Gratitude is an attitude!

I've Got a Hankerin' for Biscuits

I guess everyone knows what a hankering is.  It is defined in the dictionary as a yearning or desire.  Well, I had a hankerin' (as they say in the country) for biscuits today.  Not the kind that come in a tube, the kind made from scratch like Grandma used to make.  The really flakey, fluffy, delicious kind of biscuits.  Grandma used lard to make hers.   I use butter, but I do bake them in a cast iron skillet like she did.

I grew up in Southern Indiana in the very southwest corner of the state.  My dad's parents lived in Kentucky near Central City where the Everly Brothers are from.  (Remember the song Wake Up Little Susie?  Yeah, that's the Everly Brothers.)  They didn't live IN Central City, they lived near there in the country....way out in the country.  My grandparents didn't have a car.  They walked everywhere.  When they needed something they walked to the nearest little town to the store.  This was not like walking to the corner grocery store.  It was several miles to town.  They thought nothing of it because they had always done it that way.  I know there are those who long for the good old days, but I am not one of those people.  I like modern conveniences and being able to get to the store in a few minutes if I need something.  I don't want to haul water from the well to cook and wash dishes or fire up the cast iron stove with wood that I had to chop.  Can you imagine cooking on a stove with no temperature gauge or timer?  You just had to know how much wood to put in to bake those biscuits.  That's the way Grandma did it.  Give me my dishwasher and electric stove any day, thanks!  But, I still like country cooking.

  I was only 9 when my Grandpa passed and Grandma moved to the city to be near her kids.  That was 53 years ago.  Grandma is gone now too, but there are things indelibly marked on my memory.  One is her kitchen with the big black cast iron stove, the big stack of fire wood and the Hoosier type cabinet where she made her biscuits.  The cabinet had a wooden top, a couple of drawers and two big bins, one for flour and one for cornmeal.  The kitchen table was in a room next to the kitchen.  I am not sure you would call it a dining room, but it did have a corner cabinet.  The table always had several preserve stands in the middle which held strawberry and blackberry preserves, there were a couple that held pickled peaches and pickled beets and spiced apples which Grandma had made and all of which I love to this day!  After every meal when the dishes were done, Grandma reset the table and covered it with a large white tablecloth, ready for the next meal.  They got up very early in the morning as there were always chores to do so setting the table was one less thing to worry about.  The same routine was followed after lunch and dinner.  There were always animals to be fed and gardens to be hoed, laundry, water to be hauled, so many things to be done on a farm and this was a big time saver.

All the rooms were heated by fireplaces, there was no central heat.  Coal was the fuel burned for heat.  I remember standing in front of the fireplace to get warm.  Whichever side faced the fire was warm, not so much for the other side.  Bedtime meant a fire stoked in the fireplace that burned only part of the night so it got cold toward morning.  We slept in feather beds covered by a mound of quilts to stay warm.  It was not easy turning over. I know it sounds like a John Denver song, but that's how it was.

Grandma got up when it was still very dark and started breakfast.  I have always hated mornings, but when she called breakfast you had better be there.  Nobody wants cold breakfast, especially biscuits and nobody wanted a mad Grandma because you stayed in bed.  One of the ways they ate biscuits is still one of my favorites to this day.  Do you know what Sorghum molasses are?  They are not  black molasses like you get in the grocery.  Sorghum molasses are made from sorghum cane, not sugar cane.  They are light brown in color and I love the taste of them.  This is how we did it.  You placed a big pat of butter in the middle of your plate, poured some sorghum over the butter, mashed the butter with your fork and stirred it up.  Then, you broke off pieces of your hot, yummy biscuits, dipped the pieces in the sorghum mixture and popped the syrupy, buttery pieces in your mouth.  Divine is all I can say.

I spent the day working on projects in our little yellow cottage because it is still cool and rainy outside, and I just got a real hankerin' for some hot, flakey homemade biscuits -- the kind Grandma used to make -- made in a cast iron skillet.  So, I went to work and whipped up some delicious, delectable, flakey, fluffy biscuits which we enjoyed with the sorghum and blackberry preserves we got at the farmer's market the other day.  Talk about hitting the spot!  There is a restaurant here in Nashville called the Loveless Cafe that is famous for their biscuits.  They have even been on the Food Network in a throwdown with Bobby Flay and we have eaten there.  The biscuits are really good, but if you use this recipe you can have divine homemade biscuits of your own any time:

Grandma's Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP baking powder
8 TBSP butter (or 1 stick)
3/4 cup milk

Make sure your butter is COLD.   Cut the whole stick of butter into 4 strips, turn the stick and cut 4 more strips, then cut into little cubes,  This makes it easier to distribute in the dough.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a deep mixing bowl.  Sprinkle the little butter cubes all over the top of the flour mixture and cut it  in with a pastry cutter until  it resembles coarse corn meal.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the milk.  Stir all the flour into the milk with a fork just until it forms a ball.  Over mixing will make the biscuits tough.  Lightly flour counter top.  Knead dough in flour a few times until dough is not gooey.  Roll out to about 1 inch thick. (One inch in the distance from the tip of your thumb to your knuckle)   Dip cutter in flour and cut out biscuits.  (I use my Tom and Jerry jelly glass that is about 2.5 inches in diameter).   Put a couple tablespoons of butter in your cast iron skillet (or baking pan if you don't have a cast iron skillet) and put it in the oven to melt at 425 degrees.  When the butter is melted, remove skillet (with a pot holder, pan will be hot!) and dip one side of each biscuit in the melted butter, then turn buttered side up.  Put biscuits side by side around outer edge of skillet or pan, then fill the middle.  This recipe makes about 12 biscuits of this size.  Bake at 425 until golden brown, about 12 minutes or so.  Remove from the oven, remove biscuits from baking pan, place in serving basket and place on the table piping hot.  Serve with butter, jams, jellies, syrup and/or sorghum.

This recipe is easy to make and after doing so, you will NEVER want tube biscuits again.  You know the kind you get at the grocery store that you whomp on the counter to open?   I hope you will try Grandma's biscuits.  They are such a treat for breakfast, lunch or dinner, especially if you are having company. Impress them with your country cooking skills.  Believe me, they will ask you to make them again and again.   Enjoy!

Things to remember:

‎"What you accumulate can be yours, but it can never, ever be you." ~ Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Just An Everyday Donna

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for~Epicurus  

 Can  you remember all the things you have wished, hoped or prayed for in your life?  Did they all come true?  No?  I say thank goodness!  How different our lives could or would be if they had.  Think of things you thought you absolutely had to have or do at a particular moment in time.  If all those hopes and wishes had come true, I might not be the mother of my four children, or wife to my husband of 41 years.  Thankfully, the best wishes, hopes and prayers came true.  

Creativity has been my lifelong passion.  Making a home for my family has been a joy.  I love cooking and baking, decorating, sewing, and gardening.  Here is a short resume of some of the jobs I have done outside the home (and promise you won’t laugh.)  My first job out of school was for a nutritional/pharmaceutical company as a medical secretary and transcriptionist.  I am a trained floral designer, balloon artist, had my real estate license and sold real estate, worked in retail, managed offices, managed floral shops, worked in a book store, did direct sales, worked in a photo processing plant, worked as a photographer in a studio, even managed the box office at our local civic theater and did the costuming.  I owned a balloon shop for a while and owned a costume shop where I built mostly theatrical costumes.  The last couple of years I worked in the catering/special events department at a casino as the floral designer.   There is a lot of experience here folks and my plan is to share it with you.  

My husband was a public school teacher for 38 years.  Needless to say, with four children (two daughters, two sons) there was not always a lot of extra money for the “finer” things of life.  Therefore, this Donna had to figure out a way to make things happen…..on the cheap!

Our children didn’t always have all the "things" their friends had, but there was love and laughter and music, lots of music!  They didn’t have their own cars or video games.  Entertainment might be sitting around singing while dad played his guitar.  They were all involved in theatrical productions at their schools and sang in their school choirs.  Music has been very important in our life.  The boys played baseball and basketball.  Our house was always open for all their friends.  Our schedule was crazy.  They had jobs in high school.  They went to college.  They are all creative, talented, wonderful people who are singers, writers, business people, performers.  We are the proud grandparents of 5 rambunctious grandsons, the oldest of whom is seven.  Our "in-loves" as I like to call them are loved as well.  We are blessed.

Everyone is feeling the pinch these days, including us.   My hope is that I can show you how to live your best life without having to have a huge bank account or major Wall Street investments.  There will be ideas for gifts from the heart, ways to decorate a party, shower or wedding reception that won’t break the bank, home cooked meals that are inexpensive, delicious and easy to make.  You know, Rachel Ray says everyone has time for a delicious home cooked meal and she is right!  Ideas for your home and garden will also be included.  Need a costume?  I’ll show you how!  None of this involves extreme couponing.  The Dollar Tree is our friend.

 I am not Martha.  I am just an Everyday Donna who has had to learn to stretch a buck. Together we can make a better life. The grass is not always greener, more is not always better.  Life is good.  Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you do not have.

Things to Remember:

Smile often.  Be grateful. Laugh a lot.  Share what you have.  Be grateful.  Love much. Be kind to all creatures.  Be grateful.  Sing loud.  Dance to the beat.  Be grateful.  Don’t sweat the small stuff.  This too shall pass. Be grateful.

 Looking forward to our adventure together.  

Everyday Donna