Well, how bout all you Mothers? Did ya’ll have a great Mother’s Day? I know Deb and my Mom did. We went to Moms and had a great time. All of our kids and grandkids made it, so yes, Deb was in her environment!

My Mom as well had all her children, and was only missing one granddaughter from having all her grandchildren as well. All in all we had a great meal, a great time visiting, and a great day as a whole! We hope you guys did too!

Well, how about we take a look at what our good friend Gary sent to us…it’s about golf.

Two women were playing golf. One teed off and watched in horror as her ball headed directly toward a foursome of men playing the next hole. The ball hit one of the men.

He replied: It feels great, but I still think my thumb’s broken!

I thought that was hilarious, and thanks Gary for sending it.

Well, let’s fire off a cook stove and bake up a cake or two…

Milky Way Cake

• 8 milky way bars
• 2 sticks oleo
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2-1/2 cups flour, plus ½ cup more if flour is sifted first
• ½ teaspoon soda
• 1-1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Melt Milky Way bars and 1 stick oleo and set aside. Cream sugar and 1 stick oleo; add eggs. Add alternately flour and soda with buttermilk. Add melted candy mixture. Add pecans; fold them in. Bake in tube pan on 325 for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Icing

• 2-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup marshmallow cream
• 1 stick margarine

Cook sugar and evaporated milk to soft ball stage. Add chocolate chips, marshmallow cream and oleo. Stir until all melted. Spread on cooled cake.

Shirley Patterson

VV’s Chocolate Dump Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ cup Crisco
• 1 stick margarine or butter
• 1 cup water
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix flour and sugar in large bowl. In saucepan, bring Crisco, margarine, and cocoas to a boil, stirring often. Pour over flour and sugar. Add baking soda to buttermilk and add to above mixture. Add eggs beaten with vanilla. Bake in large, greased and floured pan on 350 for 20 minutes or until cake is done.

Icing

• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1 stick margarine or butter
• 1 box powdered sugar
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Five minutes before cake is done, mix and heat cocoa, milk, and margarine to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add sugar, nuts and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour over cake while hot.

Patty Sue Walters Griffin

Chocolate Apricot Fruitcake

• 1 cup dates, coarsely chopped
• ¾ cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
• ¾ cup raisins
• 1 cup Grand Mariner
• 2/3 cup flour
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• ½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon baking soda

Combine dates, apricots, raisins and grand mariner. Cover, let stand 2 days. Stir occasionally. Then drain fruit, pressing lightly to extract excess liquid. Reserve liquid. Place fruit in another bowl. Butter, then flour a 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2-1/2 in baking pan (loaf).

Stir flour, cocoa and baking powder in small bowl. Add walnuts and set aside. With an electric mixer, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Gently fold in flour mixture and fruit. Spoon batter into pan.

Bake for 50 minutes on 325 or until tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and glaze cake by brushing on ¼ cup of reserved liquid. Cool cake completely. Unmold and wrap in plastic. Store in container and let mellow for one week before serving. (Can be made ahead and frozen for up to 3 months.)

Jane Leathersich

Dirt Cake

• 1 (20 oz.) package cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
• 2 (3 oz.) packages French vanilla instant pudding mix
• 3-1/2 cups milk
• 1 (12 oz.) carton non-dairy whipped topping

Blend cookies in blender until they look like potting soil. Set aside. In large bowl, beat cream cheese until light. Beat in dry pudding mix. Stir in milk and combine well. Fold in whipped topping. In clean 8 x 10 inch clay pot, alternate layers of crushed cookies, and cream cheese mixture, ending with a thick layer of crumbs. Decorate with silk flowers, if desired, and serve wityh a trowel for a spoon. Serves 8 to 10.

Bev Bray

Our recipes today come from a cookbook we’ve used in the past. Deb and I both have gotten a kick out of readin it, and there are some good, down home recipes in it.
It’s called “White Trash Cooking,” and was written by Ernest Matthew Mickler. It was published by Ten Speed Press.

Mammy’s Date Cake

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup Wesson oil
• 4 eggs (whites beaten separately)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 to 2 pounds dates
• 1 quart shelled pecans, chopped

Cream sugar, oil and egg yolks until fluffy. Mix nuts and dates with ½ cup flour. Add 1 teaspoon baking powder to the other 1/2 cup of flour. Add salt and combine with creamed yolk mixture. Add flour, nuts, dates, and mix well. Add beaten egg whites and vanilla extract. Mixture will be stiff as a board. Do not moisten. Will have to mix with hands. Place in tube or loaf pan (greased). Bake on 300 until done (brown). If you’re not sure…test with a broom straw.

Reba’s Rainbow Ice-Box Cake

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup pecans
• 2 boxes cherry Jello
• ½ cup oleo
• 1 No. 2 can Dole crushed pineapple
• 2 boxes lime Jello
• 1 box (medium size) Graham crackers

Cream your sugar, oleo, egg yolks, and then add your strained pineapple and nuts. Beat your egg whites stiff and fold them in. Then place a layer of Graham crackers on the bottom of a pan, pour in the mixture, and put into the ice box to chill.

Now fix your cherry jello as for regular use, except use pineapple juice for one cup of water and the other just plain water. Don’t pour this mixture over the other mixture in the ice box until it’s ready to congeal.

Next, fix your lime jello and let set in the ice box until ready to congeal. Then whip with the egg beater until fluffy and spread it over the pan of mixtures. After this has all congealed, whip one half pint of cream and cover the whole thing.

Slice and serve topped with cherries if ya got em; if ya don’t, ya don’t.

Stewed Fig Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 small spoon (teaspoon) baking soda
• 1 small spoon ground ginger
• ½ small spoon ground cloves
• 1 sight, small spoon salt
• 1 small spoon allspice
• 1 cup of melted shortening
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of stewed figs (chopped and reserve the juice)
• 3 tablespoons whiskey (optional if you’re Baptist)

Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix all the liquid ingredients, except the shortening and the figs, in another bowl. Add the liquid to the dry, and mix well. Now add the figs and the shortening. Pour into a cake pan with a hole in the middle and bake slow, (on 275) for 1 hour. Check center for doneness. Depan when cool and use the stewed fig juice with the whiskey to pour over the cake.

Betty Sue says, “You’ll never eat that ole gingerbread cake again.”

Gerdie’s Groundnut Candy

• 1 quart molasses
• 4 cups shelled peanuts, roasted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup oleo

Combine all ingredients except nuts, and boil for half an hour over a slow fire. Then add roasted and shelled peanuts and continue cooking for 15 minutes. Drop on lightly greased cookie sheet. Make little cakes or cookies of the candy and let harden.

If you’re on a diet, or just tryin to eat more health wise, forget about hangin out, although I do tell Deb these cakes do have SOME fine, healthy ingredients. You just have to look, and use your own definition to the term…healthy.

If you look though, you can read into it what ya want. Let’s see now, hmmm, I see right off the bat…oranges. Those are good for ya, right? Then I see cloves. There’s two right off the bat, huh?

Shoot, I’m lookin now at an ingredient that just has to be beneficial to us all…coconut! Okay Deb, I’m three for three! Last but not least I spy something that “back in the day,” I dearly loved. Loved it so much I’d only buy it by the gallon.

BOURBON…yes sir, good for pretty much whatever ails ya! Medicinal purposes were my main use. My head hurt…I’d take a shot. Sometimes several. Stress, shoot, there ain’t nothing no better. Cough or sore throat, you betcha!

On top of all that, it’s supposed to be very, very good for…snakebite! So good in fact , that me and several of my good, doctorin buddies just like myself, would always tote small snakes in our pockets.

So as you can see, the recipes we’re sharin with you guys today, all CAN be described as healthy! It’s just like anything else in life. You get out of it, only how you read it!

These recipes come from one of my Mom’s cookbooks. It is a church cookbook we’ve shared from before, and was put out by the Presbyterian Church in Apopka, back in 1990.

Mom and Dad don’t attend this particular church, but many of their friends do. The title is, “Treasures and Pleasures.”

Why don’t we fire off the dern cook stove and get started. Miz Judi TOLD me a while back, “Why don’t you do a whole lot less talkin, and a whole lot more cookin?” I asked her if she was telling me this, but she said she was…only suggesting. Yeah, right! LOL!

She tried to explain it to me as simply as she could. Less communicatin works out to be more, “profit makin!”

Simply put, these days you better be into much, much, more “profit makin,” cause our current administration condones getting your wealth… “through takin!”

Let’s git started!

Clove Cake

• 1 cup butter (or Crisco)
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cloves
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon soda

Beat eggs and add to creamed butter and sugar. Sift flour and spices. Add alternately with buttermilk mixed with soda, ending with flour. Bake on 350 for 45 to 55 minutes in a 10 inch tube pan. Check center for doneness.

Mary Green

Four Day Four Layer Coconut Cake

Day 1

• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 cups sugar
• 16 oz. frozen coconut, thawed

Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate for 24 hours.

Day 2

• 1 box yellow cake mix

Mix up a Duncan Hines yellow cake mix. Substitute milk instead of water. Mix and bake according to box. Use 2 round cake pans. Let cake cool. Cut rounds in half crosswise, making 4 rounds. Put icing between layers and cover the top with icing too. If icy happens to be too soupy, just add more dried coconut.

Cover in tight cake storage container.

Days 3 and 4…Must remain in refrigerator before eating.

(Note from Dub…Deb would have her hands full tryin to keep me outta that mutha for days 3 and four!!)

Lynn Goodwin

Bourbon Pecan Pound Cake

• 1 cup solid shortening
• 2-1/2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups sifted flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup sour cream
• ½ cup bourbon (I usually set out 3-4. Don’t want to be coughin and hackin, while bakin)
• 1 cup finely chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour 10 inch tube pan or Bundt pan.

In large mixer beat shortening and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until very smooth. Meanwhile, sift flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg; add to sugar mixture alternating with sour cream and bourbon- beginning and ending with flour. Beat just till well blended; fold in pecans.

Turn into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, checking center for doneness. Turn out onto wire rack to cool. Pour glaze over cake; decorate with pecan halves if desired.

Bourbon Glaze

Mix 2 cups sifted confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon bourbon and enough water, about 2 tablespoons, to make a pourable glaze. Beat until very smooth and pour over cake.

Sis Pitman

Little Orange Chiffon Cake

• 2 egg yolks
• ½ cup egg white (4 whites)
• 1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons sifted flour
• ¾ cups sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup salad oil
• 1-1/2 tablespoons orange rind
• ¼ cup, plus 2 tablespoons orange juice
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well in mix. Add egg yolks, orange rind, juice and oil. At medium speed, mix until smooth. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar to very stiff peaks.

Slowly pour first mixture over whites. Fold in gently until just blended. Pour into a 3-1/2 inch deep tube pan. Bake on 325 for 50 to 55 minutes. Check center for doneness. Cool as you would an angel food cake.

Betty Mountan

You know, honestly I don’t enjoy in the least posting on political events. Yet in the same breath the time has come that maybe we all need to be shouting out over a government gone wild. It’s up to us, “We the People” to turn this craziness back around. That, or kiss your freedoms, your liberties, you’re right as an American to have the opportunity to grow and prosper, and by doing so creating a better way of life for not only you, your children, and even strangers.

The term “strangers” is used kinda loosely, but if you create jobs through running or operating a small business, that’s exactly what you’re doing. By doing so, “the strangers” become friends and business associates, family, so to speak.

Today, this, AND the “American Dream,” are fast becoming a past tense. We’ve been dumbed down as a society, just look at our educational system, we’ve been “watered down” as a society in general through the advocating of our elected officials to “turn a blind eye” in regards to the illegal immigration taking place in our Country today, and the literal stealing of our tax dollars through all these so called entitlement programs. Whether they be, for the “poor and oppressed,” or through the public sector workplace!

This morning I flipped on the local news, like a dummy because I KNEW better, and what’s on? The United States Postal Service is expecting to lose…over 18 BILLION DOLLARS…THIS YEAR ALONE!
They now want to cut Saturday delivery, shut down THOUSANDS of Post Offices across the Country, AND increase the price of stamps once again.

So, who suffers? How about you and I, the taxpaying American citizen! Less deliveries, less offices to use, and another increase for a dern stamp to mail your, how about your IRS tax return! LOL!

Do you guys know why our Postal system is failing? Government intervention, government subsidies from you and I, and unionization! There’s absolutely NO care or concern to make this business profitable. Why would there be?

The more these guys spend, the more support they get from Uncle Sam, who again, is actually you and I. Redistribution of wealth you ask? 10-4 says I!

Look at it from a realistic standpoint a minute or two…UPS, Federal Express, and there’s others who do the same thing as the USPS. THEY…make money! If not…they go out of business! Sounds familiar doesn’t it. It does to me, because if our business loses money for any length of time…we go out of business! That’s how it works…in the private sector, but NOT for the public sector. NO, NO, they continually are bailed out by We the People, their “bottomless pit!

This has been going on in the Postal Service for YEARS now! It’s stealing people, and that’s exactly what it is! How long before we finally stop and say, “NO MORE! What you guys are doing to us IS CRIMINAL!” Yes, that’s exactly what it is. If any of us ran our business like our government runs theirs…we’d go to jail. Simple as that, then be made a mockery of by the attorneys who prosecuted us.
You want to see more fraud…ask that ALL credit card receipts be made public that government employees use for “official business.” I’m sure all our jaws would drop open!

They talk about Bernie Madoff?? Yes sir, ole Bernie was a crook through and through, and deserved much more than he received, BUT, if you compare what Bernie stole, and again it was sinister, to what our government is STEALING from We the People daily, they make Bernie look like a complete amateur!

Back to the USPS…they want to make ALL these cuts to OUR services, BUT increase OUR COST for these services! Hmmmm…

I haven’t heard of any cuts being made to their salaries, their vacation time or pay, their health care benefits, their retirement packages, nothing! YET, private sector business has been implementing such cuts for some time now. I have a brother-in-law who took, along with other employees, a 50% pay cut! This was done to keep the doors open of the company they worked for!

PLUS in regards to the USPS…you can’t just fire them! Oh no! Think about that for a minute. You can’t fire an employee for not doing their job, insubordination, not coming to work, and it goes on and on, and on! This IS our government, and what they represent today.

Before I stop this morning, let’s look at a couple numbers. I know I’m preaching to the choir in regards to many of you, but here they are anyway…and these are 2009 numbers.

Postal Service is paying 45,000 hours of “standby time” every week…

The “Federal Times,” reports the Postal Service is paying 45,000 hours of “standby time” every week—- the equivalent of having 1,125 full-time employees sitting idle, at a cost of more than $50 million a year. Guess who pays for that?

Postal Union officials estimate that 15,000 employees have spent time this year in so called “resource rooms” where they read books, do word puzzles, or sleep—-and get paid for it.

The Cato Institute says the Postal Service is experiencing serious financial woes because 80% of its financial woes are tied up in labor cost. The main cause, once again, is that the Postal Service is so heavily unionized they can’t fire non-productive workers, lay-off workers when needed, or even cut back salaries or wages. On top of this the American Postal Worker Union operates under government protection. This is but one example.

So once more, THEIR solution is to cut services, shut down offices, and charge us more for stamps. Man…why do we tolerate such actions?? Private sector business has to adapt…public sector business just reaches deeper into OUR pockets, but sacrifice nothing in regards to…them!

We’re losing our Country as we know it, my friends! Ya better wake up!

Well, let’s go on and fire the dern cook stove off. ..Deb will probably be able to light it off my head this morning! @@##..!!??

Cream Cheese Chicken

• 6 chicken breasts, skinned, boned, and pounded
• 2 (8 oz) packages of sour cream
• 4 tablespoons dried or fresh chives, snipped
• 6 strips bacon
• 1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
• ¼ cup cream sherry

Divide cream cheese into 6 portions. Place 1 portion in the center of each chicken breast. Fold, or roll breast around cheese and wrap 1 bacon strip around each stuffed breast. Grease an 8 x 8 inch or 9 x 13 inch baking dish with oil. Pour in cream sherry. Place chicken breasts fold side down in dish. Bake on 325 for I hour or until breasts are done.

Cyndi Wright

Carrots Jo Ann

• 1 pound carrots, fully cooked
• ¼ cup liquid from carrots
• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons horseradish
• 2 heaping tablespoons minced onion
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Dash of paprika

Cook carrots until done. In a bowl mix carrots, mayonnaise, carrot liquid, horseradish, onion, salt, pepper, and paprika well. Place in a casserole dish, and cover mixture with bread crumbs. Bake on 350 for 30 minutes or until browned.

Betty Land

Eight Layer Salad

• 1 head of lettuce
• ½ cup celery, chopped
• 1 cup green pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 package frozen green peas, uncooked
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 4 ounces grated cheese
• 6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Break lettuce into bite size pieces and layer in a glass bowl. Layer other ingredients on lettuce in order given. Let set 24 hours covered in the refrigerator. Toss 10 minutes prior to serving.

Sharon Heard

Pear Bread

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ cup yogurt, buttermilk, or sour cream
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pears, cored and peeled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Cream butter, gradually beat in sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine dry ingredients; add to egg mixture alternately with yogurt. Stir in pears and vanilla. Pour into a buttered 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
Bake on 350 for 1 hour.

Mary Lou Grupp

Before we sign off this morning, let’s take a quick look at a REAL Cowboy. I think we’ve posted this before, but Deb and I saw it again last night and both got another laugh from it! Here’s hopin you guys do too!

A Real Cowboy

He’s a sport, ain’t he??

You guys have a great day and God Bless you and yours, and our Country as well! Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Once again, I can’t get started without bragging on our weather down here in…the “Sunshine State!” I’ve been out sippin coffee in my drawers and T-shirt on the porch, and ole Cheyenne sittin right beside me in Deb’s chair.

Where’s Deb? Why that “heifer’s” still in bed this morning. “Ole shiny girl” (Cheyenne) and I get up early and share our quiet time together…kinda like the calm before the storm. We both KNOW that once “our leader” awakens…it’s petal to the metal, at least in our regards.

It seems that Deb doesn’t have an “idle gear” in her system, or vocabulary, and especially when it comes to me. Once she hits the door she’s pointin her finger and designatin chores for Cheyenne and I…do this, do that, all followed by, “Yes Ma’am, Yes Ma’am,” and poor ole Shiny Girl lookin up at me with a, how long you gonna keep toleratin this look on her face??

Anyway, if any of you menfolk out there have suggestions in how to break this “I’m the boss attitude” projected by our “better halves,” please, PLEASE, drop us a line…as long as it don’t get me killed! LOL!

While we’re just messin around for the moment, I’d like to share with you guys an e-mail I received from Bill and Sandy, from Mobile, once more. Those two seem to be “a mess” and love to cut up. Deb and I enjoy hearin from them…most times! Being they’re both, as bad as I hate to say it… “Crimson Tide” fans, or to those who don’t follow college football, they’re University of Alabama rooters!

Myself, being a Florida Gator fan, the last couple years have been pretty rough, and Bill and Sandy keep me pretty up to date in this regard, BUT, it’s all in fun and I love the pickin back and forth. It’d be nice for a change though, if I could be the one doin pickin!

Anyway, ole Bill and Sandy sent us this the other day…actually TWO separate e-mails, and I gotta share both with ya’ll today. You guys know that Bama beat LSU for the National title. SO, all the jokesters who are Bama rooters came out of the closet! Poor ole LSU!

Sorry Tiger fans, but I’m guessin you guys are gonna have a lot of “Flak” comin your way…at least till next year! If it’s ANY consolation, I’m goin through the same thing with my Gators! LOL!

New LSU Credit Card…

LSU Credit Card

Renovations to Tiger Stadium…

New LSU Football Field

Thanks again to Bill and Sandy once more…you guys are NUTS!! In a good way!! LOL!

Okay, enough of this…let’s fire a dern cook stove off, how bout it??

Today’s recipes come from a cook book that Deb absolutely loves. She pretty much likes em all, but this seems to be a favorite of hers, and we’ve shared with you guys before out of it. It’s called, “Bless Your Heart…Saving the World One Covered Dish at a Time.”

It was written with recipes by Patsy Caldwell, and stories by Amy Lyles Wilson. Both of which are very good. It was published by Thomas Nelson, Inc., out of Nashville, Tenn.

You’ll see Deb sittin there goin through it and all of a sudden she’ll just start grinning. I’ve learned through the years…don’t ask!! LOL! It really is a great cook book, and in all honesty, you guys might enjoy it, I know we have!

These are three of the recipes from the cook book, and I’m telling you all right now…it’s full of em! So, get up off your wallet or pocketbook, and get ya one, you’ll be glad you did!

Beef Tenderloin with Blue Cheese Topping

• 1 (3 to 4 lb.) beef tenderloin, trimmed
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper

** The topping is below recipe…

Preheat the oven to 450. Grease a 13x 9 inch baking dish. Place the tenderloin in the baking dish and brush with olive oil. Cover with the salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the meat thermometer reaches 130 degrees (for rare). While the meat is cooking, prepare the blue cheese topping.

Blue Cheese Topping

• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 4 oz. Blue cheese, crumbled
• ½ cup butter, softened

In a small bowl mash the garlic and Worcestershire sauce. Add the blue cheese and butter and blend well. Spread the mixture on top of the cooked tenderloin and cover loosely with foil. Let resst 30 minutes before slicing.

Marinated Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Tomatoes

• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried dill
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1-1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 4 cups cauliflower florets
• 2 cups grape tomatoes

Toothpicks for serving

In non-reactive bowl (??), add the vinegar, dill, sugar, seasoned salt, garlic salt, salt and black pepper. Whisk the oil to make the dressing. Set aside while you prepare the vegetables. In a large bowl add the broccoli, cauliflower, and tomatoes. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss gently. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours before serving.

Drain and place in a serving bowl. Serve with toothpicks.

Strawberry Stuffed Strawberries

• 26 large strawberries, washed
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons orange juice

Finely chop 2 strawberries and set aside. Trim each of the remaining strawberries on their stem and carefully slice into four wedges, making sure that each wedge is still connected to the stem. In a small bowl beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Stir in the reserved chopped strawberries, walnuts, powdered sugar, and orange juice. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, and pipe evenly into the strawberry “cups.”

Ya’ll have a great day, and God Bless! As Deb says, “Keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!”

Dub and Deb

We had a new baby last Friday, and the mama had taken it off away from the other cows. Well, yesterday ole Deb couldn’t stand it, so she walked off out in the woods, and found them. She had Red take the mama some hay, and shortly after that, they came out and joined the other cows.

We’d been a little concerned because this mama has some big, I guess the proper description is “teets,” but shoot, I just call em tits?? With this being the case, we normally try and watch those little fellers pretty close, only to insure they are getting a drink as they need it.

Sometimes with them being so big, the little calf cain’t suck, so we watch to make sure they’ll be fine. If not, we pen the mama and put the baby to her, or if that doesn’t work out, then we’ll bottle feed them. 9 outta 10 though, they figure it out for themselves.

Well, like I said, the mama did bring him out to join the rest of the cows, and that little joker got out there jumpin around and kickin his heels, and it was quite evident that the little thing was getting its share of the milk! No problem!

Deb was tickled pink when the mama came out, and she saw that it was doin just fine! She really gets attached to all these farm animals, our dogs, and even the wildlife that drifts in and out. Shoot, there’s times she acts as if she kinda likes me too! You did catch the “there’s times,” right?

We’d told you guys we were putting up the greenhouse, and we got to work on it yesterday, again. This thing is comin along pretty good, and we’re almost ready to pull the plastic for the roof, and hang the curtains.

We won’t make it before Deb’s cookout, but hopefully by Tues. or Wed. of next week, we’ll be windin the outside down. Then it’s build a few beds, a few benches, run micro-jet for the water, and run power to it. After that…it’s time to start some plants!

We’re sure getting excited and really lookin forward to getting this project completed. I tell you guys, the Good Lord surely blesses Deb and I! In regards to Deb, I can see why he blesses her, but I still get stumped from time to time tryin to figure out how he can even like me! LOL!

Honestly though, you only have to ask him, and he will come into your heart. I’m in no way, shape, or form the, “perfect guy,” far from it, but through all my short comings and faults, I know that he does indeed love me, and there’s no doubt he walks with me as well…

Well, today ole Deb and I got up with a dern sweet tooth. We tried to shake it off, but sweet breads, cakes, and such just seemed to be stuck on our brains this morning. We just decided that if that’s the case…why fight it? LOL!

So, let’s go on and fire off the cook stove, and see what comes out!

Carrot Nut Bread:

• ½ cup corn oil
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1-3/4 cups un-sifted flour
• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shredded carrot
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup chopped nuts
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Stir together oil, and sugar. In large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; stir into corn mixture. Stir in carrots. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in nuts.
Turn into greased 8-1/2x 4-1/2x 2-1/2 inch loaf pan. Bake on 350 for 55 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Date Nut Loaf:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup oil
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 pound pitted dates
• 1 pound pecan halves

Combine eggs, sugar, and oil; beat well. Add dry ingredients, mixing well. Fold in dates and pecans. Prepare pans by greasing with shortening and flour, or spray generously with Pam. Place in 5 small 7-1/2 x 3-1/2 x 2-1/4 inch pans, or one large pan.

Start In cold pans and bake small pans 30 to 45 minutes (large pan 1-1/2 hours), on 300, or until bread begins to shrink from sides of pan, or springs back from touch, and is nicely browned.

DO NOT overbake. This causes the dates and nuts to become hard.

Orange Bread:

• ¾ cups orange rind, slivered
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1-1/3 cups water
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1-1/3 cups orange juice
• 3 eggs, well beaten
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon soda
• 2 teaspoons salt

Remove thin orange rind and cut into very thin slivers. Combine sugar and water; add rind; stir constantly over heat until sugar is dissolved. Cook slowly 5 minutes. The peel and syrup should measure 1-1/3 cups. Add butter; stir until melted. Add orange juice and beaten eggs.

Sift dry ingredients together into mixing bowl. Add the orange mixture and mix just enough to moisten ingredients. Batter should be lumpy.

Bake in a greased and lined loaf pan, 9x5x3 inch, on 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn on rack to cool.

Chocolate Banana Bread:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• 1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup mashed, ripe bananas
• 2/3 cup flaked coconut
• ½ bag semi-sweet chocolate

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Pour into a lightly grease 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes on 350. Cool 10 minutes. Refrigerate overnight, then slice.

Bill and Sandy sent us an e-mail the other day. It had several sayins on it. One I particularly liked. It stated that I had reached the “snapdragon part of my life. Part of me has snapped…and the rest of me is draggin!?

Then I received another e-mail, and this had a very poignant question… “IF a man stands up, and shouts in a roomful of politicians, “YOU LIE,” how do they know which one he’s talking too?”

You guys have a great day, and God Bless. Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Can you believe that Christmas is almost here once again? Good Lord…where does the time go? Quickly, and you’ll probably be told this by us a few more times prior to…Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year as well.

Boy, don’t you know that there’s a ton of kids who’ll be finding getting to sleep mighty hard just here directly. I remember myself as a child, and man, oh man, was Christmas Eve the longest night of the year by far! I could hardly get to sleep wonderin what ole Santa Claus might be droppin off at our place.

I remember one Christmas that my Dad put a dern cow patty (manure) in my stocking. I got up, reached up inside the dern thing, and there it was, just as pretty as you please. Dad asked, “What’d ya get son?”

I replied that Santa had evidently brought me a cow… but the dern thing done got up and run off! It always was pretty hard to catch me at a loss for words! LOL!

Well, quickly I heard read a story a buddy of ours in Georgia sent to us the other day, and I thought that I’d like to share it with you guys today. This has absolutely nothing at all to do with cooking, or recipes, but I found the story heartwarming enough that I figured several of you might like to read of this too.

It is the story of an injured elephant in the wild that a human walked up on, saw he was injured in some way, and the man helped this wild elephant out. It’s a great story, and is another example of a wild animal and human bonding together. Please read and send on to others if you’d like.

The Injured Elephant Story

Okay, what’d you guys think of the elephant story?

With that taken care of, why don’t we fire off the ole cook stove?

Our first recipe today comes from a good friend of ours from Virginia. Her name is Diane, and I think maybe for just a little bit, Diane may be “quite a card!” She sent us this Christmas cookie recipe, and I believe you’ll like it.

Our other two recipes today come from the “Heritage of America Cookbook,” and this was put out by Better Homes and Gardens.

We hope you enjoy them all!

Christmas Lace Cookies Recipe:

• 1 cup melted butter or margarine
• 2 cups quick oats
• 3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine butter, oats, sugar and flavoring.

Mix well.

Drop 1/2 tsp of batter on well-greased (or line baking sheet with aluminum foil/parchment paper) baking sheet, 2 inches apart.

Bake at 325 in oven for 10 minutes or until cookies are thin.

Cool slightly and remove from baking sheet with spatula.

Diane

Peach Pie:

• ½ to ¾ cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• A dash of ground nutmeg
• 6 cups thinly sliced, peeled peaches, or frozen unsweetened peach slices
• Pastry for Double-crust Pie (see below)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Dash ground cinnamon
• Milk

In a large mixing bowl stir together the ½ to ¾ cup sugar, flour, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add fresh or frozen peaches. Gently toss till the peaches are coated. If using frozen peaches, let stand for 15 to 30 minutes or till peaches are partially thawed but still icy.

Prepare and roll out the pastry as directed (again, see below for pie crust recipe). Line a 9 inch pie plate with HALF of the pastry. Stir peach mixture, then transfer to the pastry lined pie plate. Trim the bottom pastry to the edge of the pie plate.

Cut slits in the top crust. Place top crust on filling. Seal and crimp edge. In a small bowl stir together the 1 teaspoon sugar and the dash of cinnamon. Brush top crust with milk and sprinkle with the sugar-cinnamon mixture.

To prevent over browning, cover edge of the pie with foil. Bake on 375 for 25 minutes for fresh peaches (50 minutes for frozen peaches). Remove foil. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes more for fresh peaches (20 to 30 minutes more for frozen peaches), or until top is golden. Cool pie on a wire rack.

Pastry for Double-Crust Pie:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup shortening or lard
• 6-7 tablespoons cold water

In a mixing bowl stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening till pieces are the size of small peas.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push to side of bowl. Repeat till all is moistened. Divide dough in half. Form each half of dough into a ball.

On a lightly floured surface, flatten each ball of dough with your hands. Roll out dough from center to edges, forming a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Wrap pastry around a rolling pin. Unroll pastry onto a 9 inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate, being careful not to stretch pastry. Trim pastry even with the rim of the pie plate.

For top crust, repeat rolling remaining dough. Cut slits to allow steam to escape. Fill pastry in pie plate with desired filling. Place the top crust on filling. Trim top crust to ½ beyond edge of plate. Fold the top crust under the bottom crust; flute edge.

Bake as directed in individual recipes.

Apple-Cherry Pie:

• 2 cups fresh or frozen pitted tart red cherries
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 cups peeled, cored, and thinly sliced apples
• Pastry for Double-Crust Pie (see above recipe)
• 2 tablespoons butter, or margarine
• 1 tablespoon milk
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• Dash of ground cinnamon

If using frozen cherries, let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes or till partially thawed. Stir together the 1 cup sugar, flour, the 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and the nutmeg; set aside.

In a large bowl combine cherries and apple slices. Add sugar mixture. Toss to coat. Transfer to pastry lined 9 inch pie plate. Dot fruit with butter. Adjust top crust. Seal and flute edge.

If desired, cut decorative shapes from dough scraps. Brush the backsides of the shapes with milk and arrange on the top crust. Cut slits into the top crust. Brush top crust with milk. Combine the ½ teaspoon sugar, and the dash of cinnamon; sprinkle over crust. Cover edge with foil.

Bake on 375 for 25 minutes (50 minutes if using frozen cherries). Remove foil. Bake for 20 to 25 more minutes or till the top is golden and fruit is tender.

We had some friends of ours send Deb and I an e-mail a couple days back. They’re Bill and Sandy, and they live in Mobile. They’ve become friends just like so many of you guys have since the startup of our site.

Anyway, although I’d seen this before, Deb and I had never participated in one. It is a pretty dern neat way of sharing recipes. So, Deb and I participated, and what a great way to pick up recipes from friends around the Country, and even worldwide. We thought it was a very good idea.

So, I thought we’d take it a step further, and put it up on the site this morning. If you guys would like to participate, feel free to do so. We’re always looking for new recipes and we found this unique in its ability to supply you with tried and proven ways in which to prepare meals.

Just take a look at the way this is done, and again, if you’d like to participate…just jump right in. You send one, and in return you’ll be supplied with many. The way to go about this is very simple. This in itself is a Godsend for me, cause…I’m pretty simple anyway.

Here’s the e-mail Bill and Sandy sent us. Just follow what they have to say, and before long you’ll see your new recipes begin to start dropping in!

We are participating in a collective, constructive, and TASTY experiment.

After you’ve sent the recipe to the person in position 1 below and only to that person, copy this letter into a new email, move my name to position 1 and put your name in position 2. Only my and your name should show when you send your email. Send to 20 friends BCC (blind copy). You should receive 36 recipes. It’s fun to see where they come from! Seldom does anyone drop out because we all need new ideas. The turnaround is fast as there are only 2 names on the list and you only have to do it once.

1- billgrant@bellsouth.net

2-dubanddebs@gmail.com

Now…how easy is that? Isn’t it wonderful to meet new friends and share your ideas and techniques in different ways? THIS, is what our Country is all about…sharing knowledge, and helping others!
Granted, there are some who don’t know how, or care enough to help themselves. Sadly, this has become a sort of “indoctrination” our elected leaders are instilling in many today. Whether you contribute or not (Work), makes no difference…you STILL should benefit from the people who do contribute, or work.

Somehow, or somewhere along the line, our politicians figured out the convenience of “buying the vote.” As most know, this is by no means to help “we the people” out! But, far too many today believe this to be a fact.

Through this, the legacy of our Country, as laid out for us through our Founding Fathers is being interpreted by our elected leaders as full of flaws, and as they claim, not was what our Forefathers actually intended.

BUT, It IS EXACTLY what our Founding Fathers intended…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! America was built upon the right of free people to start a business, if so desired, worship as you like, and supply you, through capitalism, to better not only your own lives, but the lives of your family as well!

This is why all these people have immigrated here since the founding of our Country. All they wanted by coming here was the ability to work, save, and worship freely. Today though, too many immigrate here only for…a free ride on the “Nanny State” train! It just makes me sick.

Take from the haves, and GIVE…to the have-nots! Our current administration believes this whole heartedly. This is the agenda with community organizing. Our President…is a former community organizer.
Isn’t it amazing that he has “preached” this type of rhetoric for all these years, YET…he didn’t live in community housing, no, no. He lived in a mansion in Hyde Park. He lived the life of, well, let me see…a Capitalist! Still does! Plus most of our other politicians.

You see, capitalism FOR THEM, is okie dokie, just not us! We are actually going through a period of class warfare. Our politicians fire up the have-nots by preaching of all the corruption and fraud of capitalism. In the end, what happens?

The politicians and their cronies end up with ALL the money, All the power, and this means…no middle class eventually. We become a communist based ideology Country, and the freedom we’ve always known is lost forever.

We better wake up and start DEMANDING our rights. In this Country, we’ve always helped each other out. Like our site and so many like it, this old practice continues. We help each other not because we have to, but simply because we want to!

This little recipe sharing by Sandy and Bill is but one example of this. We do not need to be taken care of by our politicians. To be quite honest, I’m quite capable of taking care of my family and myself, but, for only along as “Our Government” continues to allow us these freedoms!

Plus the biggest point is that our politicians are not doing a good job by the most lax of definitions with the use of our taxpayer money! Look at our Country…14 trillion in debt, a school system in shambles, and at the very best mid-pack worldwide. This is literally criminal!

Alright, let me get back out of this. My dern keyboard is beginning to take too much abuse from my fingers now, not from typing, BUT BANGING on the dad-gum keys! But, you get the picture…
Well, let’s get out of politics and fire off a cook stove!

Our first recipe today comes from Diane, I believe from Virginia. If not, please correct me in this Diane! This recipe is very easy to make, and very easy on your pocketbook too!

Thank you Diane!

Sloppy Joes:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 rib chopped celery
• chopped small onion
• 1 small can of Hunt’s tomato sauce
• spices that you like
• Olive oil, for sauteing celery and onion
• One beef bouillon cube
• 2 Tablespoons of water

Heat oil in a medium/hi heat pan. When the oil is hot, cook celery for a few minutes and then put the onion in. Add ground beef and brown. Drain liquid.

Add bouillon cube and water and spices. Reduce for a couple of minutes. Add sauce from the can and cook for a little bit. Serve on top of hamburger buns.

Our second and third recipes are for those with a sweet tooth! I gotta tell you, these are two great cakes, and our ole buddy Roger supplied us with pictures to boot!

Roger is quite the joker, and has supplied many of the jokes we throw in our columns from time to time! Course, if I could bake cakes that turned out as good as evidently his do, shoot, I’d be a happy camper 24-7 myself!!

Thanks Roger!

Black Forest Cake:

• • 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
• • 2 cups white sugar
• • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• • 3/4 teaspoon salt
• • 3 eggs
• • 1 cup milk
• • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• • 2 (20 ounce) cans pitted sour cherries
• • 1 cup white sugar
• • 1/4 cup cornstarch
• • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• • 3 cups heavy whipping cream
• • 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch, round, cake pans; cover bottoms with waxed paper.
In a large bowl, combine flour, 2 cups sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, and 1 tablespoon vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Loosen edges, and remove to racks to cool completely.
Drain cherries, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Combine reserved juice, cherries, 1 cup sugar and cornstarch in a 2 quart saucepan. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cool before using.
Combine whipping cream and confectioner’s sugar in a chilled medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form.

With long serrated knife, split each cake layer horizontally in half. Tear one split layer into crumbs; set aside. Reserve 1 1/2 cups Frosting for decorating cake; set aside. Gently brush loose crumbs off top and side of each cake layer with pasty brush or hands. To assemble, place one cake layer on cake plate. Spread with 1 cup frosting; top with 3/4 cup cherry topping. Top with second cake layer; repeat layers of frosting and cherry topping. Top with third cake layer. Frost side of cake. Pat reserved crumbs onto frosting on side of cake. Spoon reserved frosting into pastry bag fitted with star decorator tip. Pipe around top and bottom edges of cake. Spoon remaining cherry topping onto top of cake.

Check out these pictures from Rajah…

Black Forest Cake

A couple comments from Roger in regards to his “cake making!”

Mmmmm! Sinful! I find that now that I have the time I find I still have the knack for making cakes! Want me to save you a bite? The wife was freaking out when I made her sit down and watch me put this baby together. I made her shave the chocolate for it!

I’ll send you a picture of me holding it. I used to make a lot of cakes when I had my own catering business back when. I used to make multiple tiered wedding cakes with bridges and the bride and groom placed on them. I should have saved some pictures of them from back then. I have the makings for a German Chocolate and a Carrot Cake in the cupboard. Yeah you never know who can bake a cake or use a sewing machine. (I own 2 sewing machines too!) Roger

Mississippi Mud Pie:

Chop pecans. Mix flour and butter. Press in pan. Brown 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool completely. (Best damned crust there is!)

Mix cream cheese, Cool Whip and powdered sugar and spread over crust. Then put chocolate pudding layer, then vanilla pudding layer on the chocolate pudding. Top with Cool Whip. sprinkle chocolate bar shavings on top.

Mississippi Mud Pie

You know that Deb’s had me…GASP…on a diet. I’m down to 278, which happens to be, hang on, I’m tryin to do the math. I’ve had to kick my shoes off to help me add this up…hmm, looks like…39 pounds. Shoot, if I’d been a normal size guy to start off with, I’d probably look like I had aids by now!! LOL!!

But, being as I was, well, let’s see, kinda pleasantly plump, I’m still…kinda pleasantly plump, just not quite so bad!! LOL!!

Anyway, desserts have not been on Deb and my list of things to eat for the last few months. She surely doesn’t need the sugar, and dad-gummit, I REALLY don’t either! So, most times now, desserts to us are like…fantasizing!

Yeah, it’s quite a bit different than fantasizing at say, age 25, but I gotta tell ya something. I can’t honestly say that my fantasizing over a dern dessert at age 55, is ANY LESS appealing than fantasizing over, well, let’s just say something else, when I was 25!! LOL!!

I think Deb does pretty well in regards to no desserts, but dern if I don’t miss em!

Quickly though, I have to tell you this morning, that Deb is doing absolutely great! She still feels good, looks good, and is very, very positive that here before long, this stuff will be whipped! What an inspiration she is to me!

So, today, in honor of I, and we, can’t have them, we’re gonna fire off the cook stove and talk lovingly of…DESSERTS! I guess after cooking them up, we’ll just…feed em to the dogs!

Ain’t it a dern shame you guys don’t live a little closer? If so, you could have swung by the house here this morning, and took these babies back home with you today…for about 6-7 bucks a pop!! LOL!

Let’s get started…

These recipes today come from the cookbook, “Best Kept Secrets of the South’s Best Cooks.” It is compiled by the editors of Southern Living.

Sweet Potato Cobbler:

• ½ cup butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced, (about 1-1/2 pounds)
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine
• 1-2/3 cups self-rising flour
• ½ cup buttermilk
• **Streusel Topping (see below)

Melt ½ cup butter in a 10-1/2 inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Whisk in whipping cream, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg. Remove from heat.

Layer sweet potato slices evenly in cream mixture. Cover with aluminum foil, and place on a baking sheet.

Bake on 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover.

Cut 1/3 cup butter into flour with a fork or pastry blender until crumbly; stir in buttermilk until moistened. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 3 to 4 times. Pat or roll dough onto a 10-1/2 inch circle; place over cobbler. Sprinkle with Streusel topping.

Bake uncovered, on 350, for 25 minutes or until golden.

Streusel Topping:

• 1/3 cup uncooked regular oats
• 1-1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut into pieces
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

Combine oats, flour and brown sugar; cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Stir in pecans.

Lemon-Blueberry Cream Pie:

• 1-2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 1 (3.4 oz.) package lemon instant pudding mix
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
• ½ cup lemon juice
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 2 tablespoons blueberry preserves
• 1 cup whipping cream
• Garnishes: lemon slices, fresh blueberries

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, butter, and granulated sugar; press evenly in bottom and up sides of a 9 inch pie plate.

Bake on 350 for 8 minutes; remove to a wire rack, and cool completely.

Beat cream cheese, milk, and powdered sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add pudding mix, rind, and juice; beat until blended. Spread half of lemon mixture evenly onto crust.
Stir together blueberries and preserves; spread evenly over lemon mixture. Spread remaining lemon mixture over blueberry mixture; cover and chill for 2 hours, or until set.

Beat whipping cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form, and spread around outer edge of pie, forming a 3 inch border. Garnish, if desired.

Fried Strawberry Pies:

• 2 cups fresh strawberries, mashed
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 1 (15 oz.) package of refrigerated pie crusts
• Vegetable oil
• Powdered sugar

Combine strawberries, granulated sugar, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Bring strawberry mixture to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute, or until thickened. Cool completely.

Roll 1 piecrust to press out fold lines’ cut into 9 circles with a 3 inch cutter. Roll circles into 3-1/2 inch diameters; moisten edges with water. Spoon 2 teaspoons strawberry mixture in the center of a circle; fold over, pressing edges to seal. Repeat with remaining crust and strawberry mixture. Place pies on a single layer on a baking sheet, and freeze at least 1 hour.

Pour oil to a depth of 1 inch into a large heavy skillet; heat to 350. Fry pies in batches, 1 minute on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels; sprinkle with powdered sugar.

We planted a row of cabbage and broccoli to see if it just might come in before it gets too cold. Down here you just never know. Dale asked to plant a row or two of collards and we told him to plant whatever he liked.

He’d told us earlier that he didn’t particularly care for mustards. I replied, “Really…that’s the main reason for planting them…cause you don’t like them!” He just laughed and said that sounded just like me!

A quick story on Dale. Deb and I had gone to a good friend of ours in Apopka last week. She’s my best friends Mom, and honestly she is just a doll! Deb and I both love her to no end and she is one fine, fine lady.

Well, what we had done was make lunch for her, and took it to her. Now this isn’t because of her being not able to fend for herself or anything, cause Mrs. C. is a go-getter. She gets along great, but we really enjoy visiting with her, so we asked if we could come and do lunch, and we did.

So, Deb and I cooked a couple prime rib roasts, a BIG ole pot of peas, and a pot of rice. We also brought her several quarts of different types of canned peas, some fresh cut okra, and some pickled okra. When we arrived she had a sqaush casserole (it was primp by the way) , and cornbread. My, oh my, did we eat good.

On our way over, we stopped by my Mom and Dad’s and dropped enough of all of it for their supper as well. Mom was like THANK-YOU!! We had to go right by, so we saved her from cooking that night too.
Anyway, by the time we had gotten everything cooked that morning, we were already a little late. So, we asked Dale when he came up for lunch, would he cleanup Deb’s kitchen some.

Dad-gum people, when Deb walked inside after Dale had gone home she hollered for me to come in and look at something. I thought Dale must have broken something of Deb’s and I was like, “Uh-oh!”
I went in and Deb says to check out her stove and even the microwave. People…it was unbelievable. Both were absolutely immaculate! They looked as if they were brand, spankin new! I told Deb, “Dern, the man is one heck of a maid, ain’t he?”

Now ole Deb will have em both lookin good when sure turns in a cleans them, but DALE?? I gotta tell ya…if there’s any of you “he” females out there, this guy would make you one heck of a housewife!!
So, the next morning Deb sits Dale down and talks with him while I was getting another cup of coffee. Actually I had gone to the bathroom, but Deb told me to tell you I was getting some more coffee. What’s up with that??

Anyway, I came back outside and deb was just a laughing. I look at her and dale, and Dale tells me Deb had a mean streak goin on. He told me when she came out that she told him they needed to talk.
She had told him that with winter coming on the grass was slowing down, the garden was slowing down, it looked like our paving business was slowing down, and this meant less income coming in. With this being the case it looked as if we probably weren’t going to need Dale’s services outside.

Well, ole Dale was like, “Man, I hate to hear that cause there’s not much of anything going on in our area workwise, and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Deb said that she too was sorry, and hated there wasn’t anything going on outside either, BUT, don’t sweat it cause the dern kitchen looked so good, that she was taking it upon herself to move him INSIDE! He’d be furnished an apron and cleaning supplies, and his job description now was… “housekeeper!”

Ain’t she mean?? Had that guy all shook up…and thought it was funny! One thing about it though. Next time she asks him to clean her kitchen in a pinch…he better do it right, cause now she knows just how well he can do it.

I told Dale he put the noose around his own neck, and from here out…he better perform! Dub’s a heck of a lot easier to work for than Deb, and I believe Dale’s seein it already. I thought it was funny, cause Dale just took some pressure off me as well. Awwwww…life is good!

The recipes today come from the cookbook, “At My Grandmother’s Knee,” and was written by, Faye Porter. It was published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee.

Well, let’s quit gabbing and fire off the cook stove…ya ready?

Creamed Chicken on Cornbread:

• ½ stick of butter
• 2 tablespoons minced celery
• 1 tablespoon minced onions
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 4 cups diced cooked chicken

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute’ the celery and onions for 3 minutes. Add the flour and stir for 1 minute. Add the broth, cream, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Add the chicken. Simmer until heated. Remove from stove.

The Cornbread:

• 1 stick butter
• ½ cup self-rising flour
• ½ cup self-rising cornmeal
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• ½ cup of buttermilk

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the butter in an 8 inch cast-iron skillet and place in the oven until melted. Remove from the oven (do not allow the butter to brown.)

In a medium bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, eggs and buttermilk. Add the melted butter and stir until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Pour the mixture into the hot, cast-iron skillet.

Bake for twenty minutes, or until lightly browned. To serve, slice the cornbread into 8 slices and cover with the hot, creamed chicken.

Kelly Simms

Franklin, Tennessee

Grannie’s Mac ‘N’ Cheese:

• 2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
• ½ stick of butter
• 2-1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup of milk
• ½ teaspoon dry mustard
• ¼ cup minced onion
• 1 tablespoon paprika

Preheat your oven to 350.

Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Drain the macaroni well and return it to the pot you cooked it in. Add the butter and stir until completely melted. Add 2 cups of the cheese.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs with the milk. Stir in the mustard and onion.

Pour the egg mixture over the macaroni and stir well. Pour the macaroni into a lightly greased 8 inch square baking pan. Top with the remaining half a cup of cheese and sprinkle the paprika on top.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and browned.

Lisa Glasner

Nashville, Tennessee

Mamaw’s Strawberry Pudding Cake:

• 1 box (18.25 ounces) yellow cake mix
• 3 large eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup water
• 1 box (1.5 ounces) instant vanilla or lemon pudding
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups mashed strawberries
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 container (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 12 maraschino cherries, halved

Preheat the oven to 350

Add the cake mix, eggs, oil, and water to a large bowl and miz well. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 13 x 9 inch glass baking pan.

In a small bowl combine the pudding mix with the milk and beat until all lumps are gone. Pour the prepared pudding over the top of the cake batter.

In a separate small bowl mix the mashed strawberries with the sugar. Spoon the strawberry mixture on top of the pudding mixture.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the cake is firm, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool the cake completely. Before serving, spread the whipped cream topping on top of the cake and decorate with the maraschino cherries. Refrigerate any leftover cake.

Alison Harris

Murfreesboro, Tennessee