Mom and Dad are coming down for lunch. We’re having Granny Margaret’s Meatloaf, peas, macaroni-n-cheese, Mom’s chili sauce, rice and tomato gravy and a good fresh salad.

After the meal, for dessert, Deb will be havin carrots dipped in beet juice for her sweet tooth, and I’ll be having the same, followed up immediately with a #1 washtub full of peach cobbler covered with homemade vanilla ice cream!

Just kiddin Mississippi, on both counts! That dern peach cobbler and homemade ice cream do sound good though, doesn’t they? Wonder when ole Deb’s headed back up to Live Oak to see her family?
Hmmm…

Granny’s meatloaf is a hit though…every time! Our whole family loves it, and 9 out of 10 times, they come down, that’s what Mom and Dad want for the meal. I gotta say, that mutha makes some really good meatloaf sandwiches the next day…or two!

We always cook about 3 times what we need. We eat about a third for lunch, eat about another third between sharin another meal or two with Mom and Dad, both of us having it for the next nights meal as well.

After that we’ll food saver the other third in some meal size packs…quick and simple dinner for one night down the road.

Well, why don’t we go back in Miz Judi’s Kitchen and fire off the cook stove?

Salmon Patties With Sauce

• 1 (15-1/2 oz.) can salmon, drained
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1 egg
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (8 oz.) can English peas, drained

Drain salmon; reserve 2 tablespoons liquid and set aside. Flake salmon; add onion and egg. Mix. Stir in ½ cup of flour. Add baking powder to salmon liquid. Stir well and add salmon mixture. Mix well. Make into 4 patties and fry in hot oil (375) until golden brown, (about 5 minutes.) Drain.

Sauce

Melt butter in saucepan. Add ¼ cup of flour, stir constantly, and gradually add milk, continuing to stir constantly until mixture is thickened. Stir in salt, pepper, and peas Serve over patties.

Sharon Bray

Crab Quiche

• 2 tablespoons green onion, chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups whipping cream
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 2 (6 oz.) packages frozen crabmeat, thawed and drained
• 1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded
• 2 tablespoons sherry
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper
• Pastry for 9-inch pie

Line a 9-inch quiche or pie pan with pastry. Saute onion in butter until tender. Set aside. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Add the whipping cream and salt, mixing well. Stir in sautéed onion, crab meat, cheese, sherry, and pepper. Pour into a partially baked (about 5 minutes) pastry shell. Bake on 425 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 for an additional 35 to 40 minutes until set.

Brenda Bray Harris

Baked Cheese and Shrimp Custard

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
• ½ cup finely chopped celery
• ¼ cup butter
• 4 slices of bread, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
• ½ pound cooked, cleaned shrimp
• 1-1/2 cups American cheese, grated
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• ½ teaspoon salt

Saute onion and celery in butter for 5 minutes or until soft. Add bread cubes and lightly toss to coat with butter. Turn 1/3 of bread mixture into a 1-1/2 quart greased casserole. Add ½ the shrimp, then ½ the cheese. Repeat the layers of bread, shrimp, and cheese and top with a layer of bread mixture. Combine the eggs, milk and salt and pour over the layers; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake on 325 for 45 minutes or until set and a knife inserted in custard comes out clean.

Bea Bird

Vinegar Pie

• 1 stick margarine, melted
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 9-inch pie shell, unbaked

Combine margarine, flour, vinegar, sugar, vanilla and eggs, blending well. Pour into pie shell. Bake on 300 for 45 minutes.

Eva Dell Beaty

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

Well, we’ve been busy prepping our garden spot. We’ve taken everything out, fed it to the cows, and during this time of the year they’re very glad for the “green” vegetables. The reasoning is there is literally no, to very little nutrition in the pasture. During this time we supplement nutrition through minerals and protein blocks, and of course hay.

But, we enjoy watching the cows eat these fresh vegetables, and they really do “dig in” when we start putting them out. In return, we’re provided with manure that we then apply into the garden, and if we see one “slackin off” in regards to keepin us in a steady flow of this essential waste product, I’ll ride by and shake a bag of charcoal in front of em.

You ever been so excited or scared to the point you could just s…? This is exactly the same response I get from the cows…how much ya want, and how high ya want it?? LOL!

We do this in our compost pile, adding manure, soil, hay or straw, green grass clippings, ground up leaves, vegetable scraps, cardboard, etc…We’ll be doing this to an extent in our garden this time. We’re putting down the manure, then a thin layer of hay, followed by a layer of ground up oak leaves.

We’ll turn all this in with the tiller, and plant. We’ll plant one, or maybe even a couple rows of potatoes, a row of broccoli, and a split row of cabbage and lettuce. The rest of the garden area we’ll hold for now, then plant other vegetables a little later.

We’re kinda at a standstill with our greenhouse at the moment, and we still like hangin the slide doors on each end, but we did get our curtain for our last side yesterday. Or at least Billy picked it up, but it’ll be next week before he can get down with it. No sweat though…

We can go ahead and start building our beds, and then start growin off some seeds to reset, and setting out a few plants we’ll pick up from the feed store to get a jump on a few things. Hopefully by next year, we’ll be growin most everything from seed. We’ll see how it works out.

We’re both lookin forward to getting started in earnest with it. I have no doubt this will be an endeavor Deb and I both will enjoy for years to come!

Speaking of Deb…she’s doin wonderful guys. Looks good, feels good, and does any and everything she’s always done. Her life has not been affected one iota in regards to having to “slow down” for any reason. I have to say again, God surely smiles on my Deb, and we thank him continually!

Her quality of life is great, and I know I probably sound like a dern broken record, but I’m so proud of her, and what an inspiration that little lady is to me! She truly is…my soul-mate! I definitely got the best deal out of our lives together! So you see, the Good Lord smiles down on me too!

I also have to thank you all again as well. We could NOT have done as well as we have without your love and support. You guys are amazing, and we’re indebted to you all! God Bless you and yours! Please keep your prayers coming, they are appreciated!

I have to say this too…Deb made the right choice, and of this I have NO doubt. Our time since the diagnosis, barring just a couple days at the beginning of this ordeal, have been the happiest of our entire lives together. Again, God is smiling on us!

I can’t get started in the kitchen with you guys today without throwin a little something out there back at ya’ll…

Love your spouse, your family, and your friends. Also, don’t just know in your heart you love them…TELL them you do! Life is not a given my friends, and believe me, I’m not using the term “my friends” lightly. You are my friends, or our friends, excuse me.

LIVE life!

Give thanks to our Lord and Savior daily. Let him know that you realize his importance in your life, and that all things you accomplish, or are blessed with, could not be done without his love and concern for us all. Every day he gives us…is a blessing!

Okay…how bout let’s fire off a dern cook stove and get started??

The recipes today come from a cookbook Deb and I have had for quite a while now, but have yet to use in our recipes we share with you guys. It’s not that there’s not a ton of good recipes in it, cause there are, but simply the fact we have so many anymore (cookbooks), we’d not taken the time to use from it prior to today.

We somehow have become… “cookbook junkies,” and honestly we love goin through them and seeing the different recipes, or the different variations of familiar recipes that are out there. I wonder if we enjoy this because we need to… “get a life??” LOL!!

The cook book we’re using today is called “Step-by-Step to Home Cooking.” It was published by Marshall Cavendish Books Limited. It has over 1,000 full-color photographs, is full of recipes, and has all types of useful and descriptive information throughout. It is…a keeper!

Milanese Chicken w/ Marinade

• 4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 4 slices cooked ham
• 2 medium sized tomatoes
• 1-1/2 oz. grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

** Marinade

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lay the chicken breasts flat, in a single layer between 2 sheets od greaseproof paper. Beat hard to flatten meat.

Now mix all ingredients for your marinade and pour into a shallow, flameproof dish large enough to hold the chicken breasts in a single layer. Turn your chicken breasts in the marinade from time to time, keeping them covered in a cool spot for 2 hours.

Uncover the chicken and put the flame-proof dish under the broiler for 5 minutes on each side.

Plunge your tomatoes into boiling water for 1 minute, drain and put under cold water. Peel away skins, then cut each tomato into 4 slices. Remove your chicken from under your broiler, again 5 minutes on each side, and place a slice of ham on each chicken breast. Top each with 2 tomato slices, and sprinkle on HALF your Parmesan cheese, and cover with foil.

Place in your oven on 150 (yep…150), for 1 hour. Take out and heat your broiler once again. Take off your foil, sprinkle the rest of your Parmesan cheese over the tomatoes once again, brown quickly and serve.

Gypsy Pie

• 1-1/2 pounds potatoes
• 1 medium onion
• A little oil
• 1/1-2 oz. butter
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg
• 6 oz. Cheddar cheese
• 6 ripe tomatoes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Sprigs of parsley to garnish

Heat oven to 400. Peel potatoes, cut into chunks, and boil in salted water until tender. Peel and chop onion and fry in a small skillet with your oil until golden and transparent.

Drain your potatoes, and dry over low heat for 1 minute in a small pan. Take out and mash the potatoes until smooth. Put the milk and butter in a saucepan and heat until butter is melted and milk is hot. Add the potatoes and beat over low heat until all are combined and fluffy. Remove from heat and add beaten egg and blend together well.

Grate the cheese and stir 5 oz. into the potato mixture. Slice your tomatoes thinly. Place 1/3 of the potato mixture into a 7 inch deep casserole. Level out potatoes. Place half your onions and 1/3 of your tomatoes over the potatoes. Salt and pepper.

Make another layer of potatoes, onion and tomatoes. Add the remaining potato mixture on top, and the remaining sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Cook in oven for 30 minutes until golden and bubbly. Garnish and serve while hot.

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