It's been awhile!

It's been a long time since I've posted, and it's been 28 years since I was given the recipe below. All these years, and I've never made it. Until now.

Back in 1983, we were stationed at Norton Air Force Base, and Don played soccer with a bunch of guys who were mostly military. One of them, Chris Poeppel, worked at the clinic.  His wife Debbie brought this dessert to one of our parties, and it was so good I begged her for the recipe. I can't believe I've never made it.  Since then, the government has gotten very concerned about using raw eggs in recipes, but I guess I'll just take that risk. 

Pineapple Surprise Dessert

1 box vanilla wafers, crushed
½ cup butter
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained
½ cup walnuts , chopped
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Butter 8x8" pan and sprinkle with half the crumbled wafers. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Pour mixture over crumbs and sprinkle with 1/2 of the remaining crumbs. Mix pineapple and whipped cream. Spread in pan, then add the rest of the crumbs and walnuts. Chill at least 12 hours.

A great idea for leftover roast beef

Thursday June 16

Last night I made some quesadillas using some leftover roast beef. These weren't Mexican, but I still call them quesadillas because they had the basic filling-inside-a-tortilla.

Here's what I did:

First, I thinly sliced an onion, and slowly sautéed it in a small amount of butter. I think I used about a tablespoon. I would have added a small splash of balsamic vinegar, but since I didn't have any, I used soy sauce.

I took the leftover roast beef and shredded it.

I then used the caramelized onion, some roast beef, and some cheddar cheese as fillings for a flour tortilla quesadilla, and browned it on both sides until the cheese was melted.

You could try other kinds of cheeses--Swiss or Provolone come to mind. I made our quesadillas two ways: since Don was more hungry than I was, I made a sandwich with two tortillas and the filling inside. Once the cheese melts, it's easy to flip it over. I then cut it like a pizza with my kitchen scissors. For me, I just used one tortilla, put the filling on one half of it, and folded it over for grilling.

We ate this with a salad--making this a wonderful meal with leftover meat.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

French Quarter Potatoes

Last night we were in the mood for something filling,since lunch had been snacks while driving. I had some Polska Kielbasa in the fridge, and some Yukon Gold potatoes that needed using up, so I borrowed a recipe from a blog called "What Did You Eat?" in Sher's recipe, she used Andouille sausage, but I thought the Kielbasa would work. Another change I made from Sher's recipe was using brown & spicy mustard instead of Creole mustard. But the garlic and cayenne made this spicy enough, so the changes still made for a tasty meal.

French Quarter Potatoes

1 T Creole mustard (I used brown & spicy)
2 t Worcestershire sauce
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 small red or white potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
freshly ground black pepper
1 heaping teaspoon chopped garlic
½ cups chopped red onions
3/4 cups chopped green bell pepper
2 andouille sausage links, quartered lengthwise and then cut crosswise into 1/2 inch chunks (I used 8 oz. Polka Kielbasa)

In a small bowl, combine the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne. Set aside
Heat olive oil in a heavy nonstick skillet and cook the potatoes and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper over medium heat for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Cover the pan as they cook. When potatoes are tender, add the garlic, onions, and bell pepper and raise the heat to high and cook for about 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the sausage and stir until heated through. Stir in the mustard mixture, then serve. Serves 2.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Trifle for Book Club

My book club has started a fun thing - we try to eat food related somehow to the book we read.  Last month, we read The Book Thief, which takes place during the Holocaust. There was mention of the soup being thinned  over and over, so we had soup. Sharon made split pea, and someone else brought minestrone.

This month, our book was Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.  Two cultures, the British and the Indian/Pakistani, are significant in this book, so we enjoyed takeout curry from a new restaurant in Redlands, Curry in a Hurry.  I volunteered to bring dessert, so I brought a trifle. This was simple to make, especially since I used Sara Lee pound cake.  I layered cubes of pound cake, sugar-free vanilla pudding, and strawberries, and topped it all with whipped cream. It was a hit - there were no leftovers!

Kim's Roasted Potato Salad

I haven't made this yet. But the recipe sounds divine, so I'm going to write it down and make it this weekend. My Facebook friend Kim made this for Mother's Day and shared the recipe.

Kim's Roasted Potato Salad

2 lbs. red potatoes
1/2 c minced onion
6 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled
8 hard-boiled eggs
3/4 - 1 cup mayonnaise
cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste

Cut the potatoes into 1" chunks and toss with a little oil. Roast on a baking sheet for about 35 minutes at 400˚. Let cool completely.  Mix with remaining ingredients. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Using up the Eggos - Overnight French Toast

As we get closer to our big trip to Canada and Alaska, I'm trying to use up the things in the big freezer so we can turn it off for the summer. We had a big box of Eggos from Costco. Don has been eating them, but got tired of them and was going to throw them away. I decided to make a breakfast treat from them and looked through my recipes for overnight French toast.  Here's what I came up with:

Overnight French Toast from Eggos


12-14 Eggo waffles, thawed
8 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup half & half
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 - 3/4 cups chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Layer the eggos in a greased 13' x 9' baking dish. Whisk together the eggs, milk, half & half, maple syrup and cinnamon and pour over eggos.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, turn oven on the 350˚.  Melt together the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Sprinkle the Eggos with the nuts, then pour the brown sugar mixture evenly over all. Bake 40 minutes.  Enjoy while it's hot.

Today's Organic Produce Share

It has been so long since I picked up a produce share that I had to renew my annual membership and sign a new liability form.  I'll try to get a few more before we leave for the summer in June.

Here's what was in this one:  Tatsoi stir fry greens, Russet potatoes, snow peas, carrots, green onions, strawberries, Valencia oranges, Blood oranges, Bartlett pears, avocados, Heirloom tomato, bok choy, Chinese lettuce, and red leaf salad greens.

I thought the Tatsoi stir fry greens were some kind of spinach, so they didn't get used in the stir-fry I made for dinner. The bok choy and the snow peas went in the pan along with the rest of an onion, and were stir-fried until they were lightly browned. I marinated one chicken breast, cut up in small pieces, for about 15 minutes in some soy sauce, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic. I removed the vegetables from the pan and added the chicken; when it was cooked I put the veggies back in and added a little more soy sauce and water shaken with some corn starch.  The whole thing cooked in less than 10 minutes. We ate it over this neat couscous mixture I got at Costco: it has Israeli couscous (larger size), red quinoa, two colors of orzo, and some Dal peas. 


The pears and apples went into a wonderful pie - I peeled and cut them in small pieces, and tossed them with 1/3 cup of brown sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of corn starch.  Oh, and I added 1/2 cup of raisins.  That mixture went into an uncooked pie shell.  I then made a streusel - I used 3/4 cup Bisquick, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 3 tablespoons of cold butter, which I mixed until it was crumbly. I sprinkled that on the fruit, and baked the pie in two stages: 40 minutes at 350˚ and then 40 minutes at 275˚ (I didn't want the streusel to burn). 


Now I need to plan what to do with the rest of today's haul!  Feel free to make recommendations. 

New recipes

I decided to bring my crockpot along on this trip--I thought it would be nice to have a few things cooking all day instead of doing everything at dinner time. On St. Patrick's Day we had the usual corned beef, potatoes and cabbage, and yesterday I tried out a recipe for pork chops. I used pork sirloin, however--occasionally I can get them on sale at Costco, and since it's sirloin, it's much more tender than loin chops. I also tried a new way to eat cucumbers--I had some at an Austrian restaurant (Johannes) in Palm Springs and figured out how to duplicate them. (At least I like them just as much, whether I duplicated them or not!).

Slow Cooker Maple Pork Chops




4 boneless pork chops
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Place chops in bottom of slow cooker; add onion. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over chops. Cook on low 6-7 hours. Serve over rice with pan juices.


Dilled Cucumbers




3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced (if you're using an English cucumber, you don't have to peel it)

Whisk cream and sugar until frothy (but not whipped); add vinegar, salt, and dill weed. Stir; add cucumber. Let sit 15-20 minutes before serving.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Potato-Corn Chowder, and a recipe from Pioneer Woman for dessert

I have only one more night after tonight to cook for Kenny, before he heads to New Mexico. So tonight I wanted to make something I knew he'd like, and started with some easy soup.  Half of this soup comes from cans - one can of creamed corn and one can of regular.  Kenny likes to add a little curry powder to his, so this is an option you can try.

Potato-Corn Chowder

2-3 tablespoons diced onion
2 tablespoons butter
1 large potato, cut in small cubes (about 1 cup)
1 1/2 cups water
1 15-oz. can cream-style corn
1 15-oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
3 cups milk
1 chicken or vegetable bouillon cube
salt and pepper to taste
Optional: bacon bits, curry powder

In a large saucepan, sauté the onion in the butter until tender. Add potato and water; bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until liquid is nearly evaporated (potato should hold its shape but mash easily). Add remaining ingredients (except bacon bits and curry powder).  Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve with bacon bits and/or curry powder, if desired.  Serves 4 hungry people.

After dinner, Kenny said he wanted something for dessert other than cookies. I remembered seeing a recipe for "chocolate cobbler" on Pioneer Woman, and knew that I had one - though my mother called it Chocolate Pudding Cake. I couldn't easily locate her recipe, so I used the one from Pioneer Woman.

Chocolate Cobbler
(also known as Chocolate Pudding Cake)
from The Pioneer Woman

1 cup All-purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
7 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder, Divided
1- ¼ cup Sugar, Divided
½ cups Milk
⅓ cups Melted Butter
1- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ cups Light Brown Sugar, Packed
1- ½ cup Hot Tap Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. First stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, 3 tablespoons of the cocoa, and 3/4 cup of the white sugar. Reserve the remaining cocoa and sugar. Stir in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix until smooth. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 8-inch baking dish. I prefer my small oval Corning Ware glass dish.*  In a separate small bowl, mix the remaining white sugar (it should be 1/2 cup), the brown sugar, and remaining 4 tablespoons of cocoa. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the batter. Pour the hot tap water over all. DO NOT STIR! Bake for about 40 minutes or until the center is set. Let stand for a few minutes if you can hold yourself back. Serve with homemade ice cream using the gooey sauce to spoon over all.

* Err on the side of caution - I used an 8" stoneware dish - it all fit in it prior to cooking - but it has exploded all over the sides and is dripping on the bottom of the stove.  Ah, the smell of burnt sugar!  Use a larger dish.

Applause for Gina!

One of the blogs I regularly follow is Gina's Skinny Recipes.  I love the things Gina cooks!  Recently she posted this recipe, which I adapted very slightly for us for this morning's breakfast. I think I could eat the whole pan!

Crème Brûlée French Toast
adapted from a recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes

1 cup unpacked brown sugar
¼ cup Karo syrup
2 tablespoons butter
cooking spray
10 ounces Challah bread, sliced 1 inch thick (I used a Country Loaf from Panera)
6 eggs
1-½ cups 1% milk
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided

In a small heavy saucepan melt brown sugar, syrup, and butter over moderate-low heat, stirring, until smooth and melted, about 1 minute, then pour into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Arrange bread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit.
In a large bowl whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and salt until combined well and pour evenly over bread. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350° F. and bring bread to room temperature.
Bake uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges are pale golden, 40 to 50 minutes.
Top with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

Nine months since my last post? Wow!!!

First of all, I can't believe it's been 9 months since I posted those pinto beans. I've really neglected this blog. Now that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking - I have - it just means that I've made things that I've already written about, or I've not been enthused about something new that I made.

Secondly, welcome to my followers!  I didn't even know you existed until I added the "Followers" gadget to the sidebar.  I have had this gadget on my other two blogs for a long time, and have kept up with the doings of my Wanderlust followers for about a year.  I'll have to go visit your sites now that I know you keep up with mine - and I'll add you to my Google Reader so I can see what's cooking.

All that being said, here's a very brief summary of what's happened in my life since that March post:
1. Don and I took a nice Memorial Day trip to June Lake in the Eastern Sierras.
2. Our summer trip was to Colorado - for 62 days. We stayed in Lake City, Taylor Park, Ridgway State Park, and Priest Gulch Campground on the Dolores River. It was a great fishing trip for Don, and a wonderful quilting-reading-relaxing-renewing trip for me.
3. I began my 25th year in education - and my 8th year as the president of our local teachers' union.
4. Don and I took a Thanksgiving trip to Lubbock, Texas, to see my mother. We were surprised by my sister and her husband showing up (they live in Mesquite), and enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast.
5. We made the very important decision to keep our house after I retire instead of going full-time on the road in our trailer. We love our trailer, and we love to travel, but we also love coming home. If you're going to have to live in southern California, you live in the mountains like we do.
6. We signed the papers to refinance the house and knock $400 of the monthly payment. (More money for travel!)
7. I turned in my papers for retirement - I'm taking advantage of an early retirement incentive. My last day of work will be June 2, 2011.
8. Kenny came home from Japan - he's here for the holidays while he's in transit to his next base. He'll be going to Holloman AFB in New Mexico.

So now we're suffering through one of the biggest rainstorms to hit southern California in a long time - it's been raining since Friday, and is not supposed to quit until Thursday. Luckily for us, it's been rain instead of snow, though the predictions are for it to turn to snow tomorrow night and dump about 2 feet on us.

I've been making other people's recipes lately.  Dinner tonight was Sweetnick's Lemon Parmigianno Chicken, and dessert is Joe's Butterscotch Brownies with Brown Sugar Butter Frosting (only I used half the frosting since it make so much). 

Last night, I adapted a recipe for pork tenderloin and used it with pork sirloin.  If you've never had pork sirloin, you should try it. It's much more tender than the pork in boneless pork chops, and is great for grilling as well. Here's the original recipe, which I think is from Taste of Home.

Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloins

2 pork tenderloins, 3/4 lb. each
¾ teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon butter
¼ cup maple syrup
3 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 ¾ teaspoons Dijon mustard

Rub pork with sage. In a large nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray, brown pork in butter. Place in a foil-lined roasting pan. Bake, uncovered, at 425˚ for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the syrup, vinegar and mustard until smooth. Pour into the same skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Brush pork with 1 T of glaze; bake for 5 minutes. Brush with another T of glaze; bake 3-5 minutes longer or until meat thermometer reads 160˚. Brush with remaining glaze. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.

With Kenny here, I've had to have some good snacks around, and this one is now a new favorite. I doubled the recipe, since you can buy almonds from Costco or Sam's in large jars.  If you do, then omit the salt in the recipe, since the almonds from Costco or Sam's are salted.

Candied Cinnamon and Sugar Almonds
from Melanie of My Kitchen Cafe

1 egg white
1 teaspoon cold water
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups unsalted almonds
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon


Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a large (11X17-inch) rimmed baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat the egg white until stiff peaks form. Add the water and vanilla and beat again until stiff. Add the almonds to the mixture and stir gently to coat the almonds with the egg white mixture. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Add this mixture to the almonds and stir gently to mix well. Pour the almonds out onto the prepared baking sheet and carefully spread them out into a somewhat even layer. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about an hour, stirring/flipping every 15 minutes, until the almonds look and feel dry.

Mel says: To check to see if the almonds were done, I carefully picked one up in my fingers and when I pressed around it, I didn’t get any wet sugar on my hands. The coating on the almond felt hard and crunchy. Cool completely before serving or packaging.


I can't promise I'll begin posting regularly again - but I'll try to post more often. Thanks for reading!

Almost Meatless Monday

This used to be a monthly meal for Don and me back when we were really pinching our pennies. It'll make a return, but perhaps not monthly.

Pinto Beans

1. Put 2 cups of pinto beans in the crockpot, covered with water, to soak overnight.
2. Drain, rinse the beans, and put new water in - I used 1 quart.
3. Add 2 pieces of bacon, diced, and about 1/8 cup chopped onion. Do not salt the beans before cooking them as it will make them tough.
4. Cook on LOW 8-10 hours.

Serve with salad and cornbread.

Roasted Asparagus - a first for me

We finally had some warm weather here at home, and I asked Don to cook out on the grill. I made some pineapple salsa and curry rice, and then sprinkled the boneless chicken thighs with some jerk seasoning. While the chicken was cooking, I roasted the asparagus.

I have to admit that this was the first time I've EVER bought fresh asparagus. I've had it in restaurants and really enjoyed it; but I'd never bought it and cooked it at home. It was very, very simple:

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚.
2. Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil onto a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Break each asparagus spear at the "tenderness" point - it'll break naturally and you can discard the woody ends. Place the spears in the pan, and use your fingers to roll each one in the olive oil until coated.
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roll again.
5. Roast for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Lots going on elsewhere

Go to my travel blog, Wanderlust, for more interesting reading.

Taking a Break From Food Blogging - Again

Life events are just a bit overwhelming these days - it really sucks to be a teacher leader (I'm president of our local union) in California right now. Billions - no exaggeration - BILLIONS have been cut from public education, without any change in what is expected; so much sadness and so much fear among the members of my association. I hate to add that I'm also dealing with several member discipline issues where it is clear that the administration is overly-heavy-handed in its punishment. So with negotiations, budget cuts, bullies at the district office, 60+ pending layoffs (we only have 430 members) and abysmal morale, it's hard to go home and think about blogging about food.

I'm sure I'll be back. But right now my escape needs to be to quilting and stamping, where I don't keep gaining weight. : )

Update #3

The power came back on Wednesday the 27th.
We still have no phone - though Verizon promised they'd be working on it today. There happens to be a 12-foot high snowbank below the pole they need to work on; Don's not sure they're going to be able to reconnect the line without a big truck and cherry picker. And there's no place to park one. Are we going to have to wait until the snow melts in April to get a phone again?

Without a phone, I have no internet access at home...disaster!

Today I came to work without my cell phone - it's on the kitchen counter. I can't call Don to bring it to me, since we don't have a working phone. I feel bereft. Lost. Floundering.

I'm still having to park next door - my parking place is under 10 feet of snow, dumped there by the plow as it cleared the street. I'm glad Tom isn't interested in coming up to his house any time soon.

The snow on our deck has compressed and melted, and is now only 3 feet high. One of these days we'll get to it and clear it off before the deck collapses.

But it's nice to have power - and to be WARM.

Snow Update

This is a post from January 26

Today is day 5 with no power and day 4 with no phone. We have water - temporarily.

Here's what we know about the water: most of our town gets its water from a giant tank up in Snow Canyon above Spring Street. An avalanche took out the main line from the tank. We have a backup system, which we normally use during the summer if the previous winter wasn't wet enough. It utilizes a pump that draws water from an underground river. That pump needs electricity - there is none. So, we had no water while they searched for a mega-generator to run the pump. Last night around 9 pm we discovered we had water again. The pump is running. Now they need to fix the main line from the tank.

Our neighbor John came over around 8, excitedly telling us we had phone again - that is, until he remembered in mid-sentence that our phone line had been knocked down. So while most of the town has phone service again, Verizon says they won't come up to fix our line until February 2.

We still have no power, either. No telling how long that will take. No power means:
- eating your meals in the recliner so you can be close to the fireplace
- sleeping in sweatpants, sweatshirts, hats, and gloves (isn't that from a Dar Williams song? !)
- ice on the inside of the bathroom window
- making toast in a skillet


I'll be adding more as I think of them.

Post from Last week - Snow Report

This is a post from January 25.

Today is day 4 with no power. It's day 3 with no phone, and day 1 with no water.

It started snowing last Tuesday; it didn't stop until Friday evening. The first few days were no big deal - we'd shovel the pathways to the woodshed and the street, and I'd parked my Jeep under the carport next door (my friend's house - he lives in the valley). But Friday morning we woke up to several more feet of snow.


I got a call from the District at about 6:15 saying school in Yucaipa was cancelled due to snow - they got several inches and the roads were slick, so it was a safety issue. (Yucaipa is about 2600' - we're at 6000'). I was on the phone with my friend Patrick at 6:30 when the power went out.

Okay, we can deal with the power being out - we have 2 generators. One is now hooked up to the light in the kitchen, the lamp in the living room, the fan in the fireplace stove box, the regrigerator, and the tv/satellite. (We actually got to watch the playoff games yesterday.) The other, smaller generator is hooked up to the freezer downstairs in the basement. We run each one a few hours at a time in order to keep the food cold and the living room above 60˚. We've gone through tons of wood, and eat our meals in the recliners since they're next to the fireplace. We sleep under several comforters, and I"m wearing gloves to bed since it's so cold in there.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to no phone service. No land line, no cell. Then around noon, while we were outside with our neighbors, the next little disaster happened. Don and John were in the street - John was using the snow blower - we all heard a loud c-r-a-c-k, and a giant limb (1.5 feet in diameter) fell off the huge cedar in our front yard. The two men were directly underneath it, and they ran for their lives. It landed in a cloud of snow and branches right behind them. As it fell, it took out our power and phone lines - stripped them off the main pole. They're still connected to the house, so they're dead lines. Later Saturday afternoon, after the road was plowed and we'd cleared the tree branch from the road, we drove down the mountain for food and gasoline for the generators. I called Verizon - who gave us an estimate of February 2 for the phone line. I called Edison, and we're on their list - there are dozens of power lines down all over town - some they can't get to until the 15-foot-high berms are cleared. It's like those old-time Christmas tree lights - every single line has to be connected in order for all the power to be turned back on. We'll probably be without power at least another week if not more.

So, I'm okay with no power, and I'm okay with no phone, since I can come to the office now and use my cell and the office phone.

But this morning we woke up to no water. The initial guess from our neighbor is that an avalanche took out the main pipe from the tank above Spring Drive. When we had water, we could cook, and wash dishes, and even take showers - we have propane to heat it up - but now we have no water. We'll use our fresh water supply from our earthquake supplies to drink and cook, and we have a few hundred gallons in the spa we can use to flush the toilet - but we're going to have to call upon friends down the mountain for showers.

The weather people on TV say this is the most snow in over 50 years. It's definitely the most we've seen in 20. The Big Bear Valley, further up Highway 38, is closed. All 3 highways in and out are shut down; the gas stations are running out of gas, and the stores are running out of supplies. Apparently thousands of ski/snowboard yahoos from LA went running up there midweek, and when the last storm dumped 2 more feet on top of the 3 already there, everyone got stuck. There are avalanches on Highway 18 at the Arctic Circle, and stuck cars all over the place blocking other sections of the roads. (Flatlanders....)


Well, here are the best of the pics I've taken the past few days:

This is a red Chevy Blazer. Really. It's across the street from our house.

This is our street - I'm standing at the bottom, on Valley of the Falls Drive, looking up Snowdrift. This was taken Friday around noon, about 10 hours before the plows came. The snow is about thigh deep - this was Thursday night's snow, since the road was clear before that.

This was Saturday morning, after the plow had come the night before.

This is our house. See the snow on the deck to the left?

This is my husband's truck, before he started to dig it out.

Yeay! We found the front bumper!

This is the branch that came down and almost killed Don and John, and took out our power and phone lines. That's our neighbor Barbara.

Our phone and power lines.

Don and John getting ready to cut the branch up.

This is looking out our sliding glass doors to the deck. The snow is up to my nose.



Signing off for now - powerless, phoneless, and waterless.

A Taste of Argentina: Empanadas Mendocinas & Chimichurri Sauce

I first heard about discos on Lydia's blog, The Perfect Pantry. The very next day (last week, as a matter of fact) I went to the Ranch Market in Redlands where I get my tortillas and tortilla chips, and found that they carried them. All you do is thaw them out, put a filling in the center, stretch them just a little while you fold them over, use an egg white wash to help seal the edges, and press the folded-over edges with the tines of a fork. Bake. Eat.


Oh, the possibilities! I have rhubarb and strawberries in the freezer - I'll roast them with a little sugar and make dessert turnovers. I have apples and raisins. I have blueberries and lemon curd. But first, I needed to make a main dish empanada, and I needed to make them with ingredients I had in the house. So, after a little exploration in blogland, I decided to make Empanadas Mendocinas, or Empanadas Mendoza. These were simple to make - took a little time because of the need to work each one, but well worth it.

Empanadas Mendocinas are traditionally Argentinian, and with the chimichurri sauce we had a nice sample of some flavors of Argentina.

Empanadas Mendocinas

1 package (10-count) Goya Discos
1/2 cup diced onion
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
3/4 lb. lean ground beef
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano flakes
1/2 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 green onions, thinly sliced (including green part)
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
5 green olives, halved
1 egg, divided (yolk in one bowl, white in another)

Preheat oven to 400˚. Sauté the onion in the oil over medium heat about 8 minutes or until tender. Add ground beef, smoked paprika, chile powder, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook and crumble meat until all is evenly browned. Cool slightly.

Place discos out on a large work surface 5 at a time (they dry quickly). Distribute meat filling evenly among each one, topping with some chopped hard-boiled egg and half of a green olive. Lightly whisk the egg white, and then brush the edges of the pastry. Pick up the pastry, stretching it lightly in each direction (you form sort of a bowl when you do this) and then fold it over. Press the edges together, and fold them over a second time to seal. Use a fork to crimp the edges. Lightly whisk the egg yolk, and brush the tops of each empanada. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot or warm with chimichurri sauce (below).

I heard about chimichurri sauce a few years ago - it's often served over steak. This sauce makes barely enough for the 10 empanadas, so you may want to double it.

Chimichurri Sauce

1 small bunch fresh parsley, stems removed
4-5 fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano (I never have fresh!)
2 tablespoons white vinegar
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
salt and pepper

Blend all ingredients together in a blender until fine and it looks like the photo above.
Note: I tried this in my full-sized blender, but there wasn't enough of it to work down into the blades. It kept sticking to the sides. I transferred it to my little rocket blender, and it worked beautifully.

Word of Warning: Don't Throw Cooked Turnips in the Trash

We are still working on getting the stench to go away.

I cooked a turnip gratin on Saturday; put the leftovers in the fridge for Don to eat. By Tuesday, he still hadn't eaten it, so we dumped it in the trash in the kitchen. We don't have a garbage disposal. The kitchen trash can is covered, which might explain why we didn't notice a smell until yesterday.

By dinnertime yesterday, I told Don it smelled like cabbage in the house, but we didn't have any cabbage. After doing the dishes, the noxious smell had permeated the whole house, and both of us realized at about the same time that it was the turnips, who by now had gotten so rotten there in the bottom of the bag that the smell was just gross. Don took the trash out, sprayed the inside of the trash can, and then we lit three cinnamon-apple candles. If you went outside and then came back in, you noticed the smell immediately. Last night we slept with the bedroom door shut - and came out this morning to the smell - somewhat dimmed, but still there. Our next treatment was the linen-scented spray we use in the bathroom.

I think it's gone now - except for the little bit you catch as you walk in from the outside. Maybe tomorrow it will be totally gone.