Literary Cats and Quilting Kittens . . .

 

Since the invasion of the kitten population, I am seldom alone much as would like to be at times! Marcela is showing off her literary side by resting near the encyclopedia. Later, Marcela and Tugboat find that they would much prefer sleeping on my quilt scrap box than tackle any bit of fabric that might dangle in their view from my work table.

Peach/Mango Crisp!

 Besides being in charge of pickle making this morning, I also had very ripe peaches and mangos to put to use. Initially, I thought about pies but decided on making a crisp. This way there is more buttery crust with each serving and I didn't have to fuss with rolling out a crust. I was a little tired from pickling cucumbers!

Pickled on a Saturday Morning!

 

My first attempt at making pickles and it seems to have worked out okay! In obedience to my husband who left with this last word, "Do something about all those cucumbers from the garden!" thus pickles were born!

I had dreaded getting out the jars, etc. but was suprised at how easily it all went together. Then I realized that with making jam, you have to fuss more to insure the jam 'sets'. With pickles, you chop the vegetables, pour over the sugar/brine/spice solution, fill the jars, process in the hot water bath, and . . . done!

We are having barbecued pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and I'm thinking these spicy/sweet pickles might be just what they need.

This says it all . . .

Isn't that what the president said . . . the first time around?

I'm sleeping in today. But according to our leader, I'm doing all the work building someone else's small business. Tim Hawkins

Baking Mix . . .

Although my baking of choice is starting from the very beginning and not using mixes, I do like to keep a box of biscuit in the cupboard. The generic as well as the name brand are good and they can save the day when life is going faster than you are getting things accomplished.

The box always lists a variety of recipes but the one I go to the most is the one for . . . biscuits! Basically, you add milk to the mix, roll, cut out, bake, and you have hot biscuits within 15 minutes. If you want really light and tasty biscuits, use buttermilk instead of milk for the liquid.

Over the years, however, I've turned to my short cut mix for quick dessert cakes. I don't have a specific recipe but my throw-together concept is a cup or two of the mix, an egg or two (depending on the amount of mix used), melted butter, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract. I mix to form a very soft, spreadable batter and put it in an appropriate baking pan.

You can bake it as is but to really take this up a notch, mix 1/2 cup of baking mix with 1/4 cup ground nuts, 1 cup of brown sugar, cinnamon, and 1 stock of butter to form a crumbly mixture. Spread this over the top of the unbaked cake, swirl in the batter a bit, and bake. This never comes out quite the same as I'm always in a hurry when I throw it together! The thing is that it is almost fool-proof even for a harried mother with seemingly twenty children pulling at your shirttail while you try and get a meal prepared.

Truth in a small package . . .

Sometimes, the broad scope of an ongoing problem can be found in a small amount of words. I think this quote describes a good bit of the trouble with our government today.

When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators."
-- P. J. O'Rourkep