What's For Dessert?

Real quick post today folks! Thanksgiving is now 2 days away. I simply can't wait to spend the morning in my kitchen cooking up a storm while listening to the parades on T.V. in the other room and occasionally running in there to check out a float. In all the kitchen fury it takes careful planning and timing to get everything ready to go when it's time to leave and head to my Sister's house.

One of my items to bake that is requested every year by my Father is good ole pecan pie. It is a simple recipe that I cut off of a Karo Syrup bottle years ago. It is probably still on the label printed today but I thought I would share it with you.

Pecan Pie

3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup light or dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup pecans, whole or chopped
1 nine inch pie shell unbaked

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together first five ingredients then add pecans. Pour into pie crust. Place pie on a cookie sheet (in case the pie over flows) in oven. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes.

For a variation to this recipe you can add 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Not Your Ordinary Cranberry Dish

I know it is a holiday staple on most American holiday tables on Thanksgiving, when I think about it there is a certain twinge of a cringe in my shoulders. I think it is a scar from childhood of the infamous, canned-shaped, dark red congealed mound resting on a bed of lettuce that makes me make the face I am making now. The face of... "you can't possibly make me eat that and by the way what is it?!"

I didn't attempt to even eat cranberries until adulthood and to my surprise I loved them. Now I eat them dried and juiced and adore making breads and muffins with them. But the congealed version... still not a fave.

I now wish to pass on my Thanksgiving version that I'm almost certain has replaced the indented, rimmed version that used to grace our table. I have realized that there is a certain twang that a cranberry dish adds to a homemade turkey dinner and I personally enjoy the taste... even if not many others do. Huh.. that's probably what the canned eaters think too!


Cranberry Relish

1 orange
1 bag of cranberries
orange peel from orange
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Dice all up. That's all my recipe says!

I use a mini food processor to do the dicing for me. Chop up the cranberries and peeled orange. Using a lemon zester, scrape off the orange part of the orange peel if that makes sense and add it to the cranberries and oranges. Next add the sugar and pecans. Refrigerate and serve in a pretty bowl. No lettuce bed needed.

It's super easy and is truly better if made the night before. I love this medley so much I could just eat it with a spoon!

Feedin' The Birdies

Hi Y'all and a very good morning too you! Last weekend... not this past one.. the one before, I did a lot of fun stuff I was just too busy at work to blog about it so I'm passing it on this week. For one of my birthday presents this year my dear sweet Mama sent me a subscription to Birds & Blooms magazine. I had a subscription years ago and wound up cancelling for one reason or another but certainly not because I didn't like the magazine. Well I received my first of I think twelve issues and I am once again loving it! I have poured over this issue more than a dozen times.

Last Sunday I decided to try my hand at making my own suet to feed the birds with. I have a couple of bird food recipe books but haven't tried much in them. This issue had several recipes that I was more than willing to give a try. Now you know that I will never pass on a recipe that I haven't tried myself. This recipe is on page 37 of the October/November issue of Birds & Blooms magazine. I'm not one to really go looking for links but I'm sure there is one to the magazine and maybe even this recipe but you'll have to look it up yourself and I hope I don't get in trouble for passing it on. With that said... here is what I did.

Tried and True Suet

2 cups lard
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups cornmeal


Melt lard and peanut butter in a sauce pan and add cornmeal. Pour into a 9x13 inch cake pan and put into the freezer. I also added 1/4 cup birdseed and 1/4 cup crushed cereal that had been opened for a little too long in my opinion but the birds don't care. Add your extras such as raisins, crackers crumbs, crushed cereal, nuts or oatmeal before pouring into pan. Now if you finish reading this you will find out what to do next.

I have to tell on myself. After I made this suet and put it into the freezer I got to reading other recipes. Almost all of them had something to say about lining the pan which I did not do. I just rolled my eyes. Before this I had poured a small amount into a little bowl and put it into the refrigerator because I was just so excited. Well it stuck.. big time. Needless to say I waited four days, dreading the event of digging my suet out of my cake pan. Now I'm not certain to say that it was because I used a metal cake pan but this may just be the cause. I retrieved my suet on Thursday and to my delight if I had turned the pan over it would have fallen right out! What a relief! I cut the frozen suet into six squares, stored five of them in separate sandwich freezer bags and put one right outside into my suet feeder cage.

So far so good the birds seem to love it. It may just be the time of year, but it has lasted for about five days now. I estimate using one a week until winter gets here and then we'll see. There is another recipe that I intend on trying once I've gotten up enough leftover bacon fat so I'll report back when I try it. It will eliminate buying lard. And Hey if you want me to make you some I surely will let you buy some! Making it sure beats buying it especially when you can get rid of some of the older things in your pantry. The enjoyment of watching the birds slowly devour my product just tickles me too.

Indoor Plant Love

Good afternoon all! I would like to talk about indoor plant care for a minute and pass on a tip or two.

Please let me introduce Lola. Lola is my 16 year old Peace Lily or a more proper name is Spathiphyllum 'Lynise'. I don't usually name my house plants but she is pretty special. She has been repotted into bigger pots about 6 times. I have transplanted her sproutlings and watched her bloom and have enjoyed having her around.

I have several other indoor plants and some that I keep outside during the summer and inside during the winter. Every couple of months I will bring each one to the kitchen sink for grooming. I remove and clean the water catcher from underneath the pot, trim dead leaves and give them a really soaking bath. By bath I just mean that I will saturate the dirt until it pours out of the bottom. I sit the plant in the dish drainer to let all of the excess water drain out while I do all the necessary grooming. All in all the process for each plant only takes a few minutes.

Each time I groom my plants it includes a light dusting of their leaves. Dust, dust mites and allergens land and form on the leaves and stems of your plants just like on furniture but is often overlooked. When I soak my plants I simply take a moist paper towel and gently wipe each leaf off and down them stems.

Outside of my grooming ritual that I believe makes my plants very happy I water them about once a week. Now for the "tip or two" I mentioned.

1. I have found that my indoor plants tend to dry out quicker during the winter months when the air is dryer from indoor heating systems. Check your plants more often to made sure the soil isn't too dry.

2. Place mulch on top of the soil in the pot to help hold moisture in the soil.

3. Trim brown or discolored leaves from the plants. I mean they're dead anyway... get them out of there! Also don't be afraid to trim plants that tend to vine wildly. It won't hurt the rest of the plant to keep it well groomed.

4. If you own this particular type of plant then you know that after the white bloom opens and you can see the inside cone soon after it will polenate and a white dust will sprinkle the other leaves or whatever else the bloom is above. You can keep this sprinkling from occurring by cutting out the cone of the flower. I know this is part of the beauty of the plant but I dislike the dust.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!