Tag Archives: Comfort Food

The Joys of Autumn…

A walk about the yard revealed some lovely fall color this week. Jenny at Alphabe-Thursday threw down the Fall challenge. This is the last Thursday to join in the fun so click over and leave a link.

One of the things that brings me joy in Autumn are the changing brilliant color on bushes and trees. The photos above are of our Dogwood tree and our blueberry bush.

Our Asian Maple which is more of a bush than a tree.

Sadly I forgot the name of this tree. It looks like a Golden Rain Tree. Part of the year its a brilliant green and at other parts of the year it has crackly pods on it. It really is flaming nicely right now.

Do you enjoy raking leaves? I usually vacuum them up with the lawnmower! I enjoy watching the leaves fall.

Papa Murphy’s is selling this Jack O’ Lantern pizza right now and I caved and bought one. Isn’t it cute?

Comfort foods and wonderful soups are way up there on my I like Autumn list. I also enjoy sweaters and coats.

What are some of your Autumn favorites?

Blue Monday and Tablescape Tuesday!

Since we had a blue and white tablescape for our daughter Katie’s birthday on Saturday I’m combining Blue Monday and Tablescape Tuesday this week!  My sister Lana G! was over and helped with the details on the tablescape while Dear and I prepared dinner for the party. Dear made both soups we were serving for the dinner. His famous Tomato Rice Soup is one he’s been making since his college days from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. The second soup was a Potato Leek Soup with Bacon and Havarti cheese that we used the best of 3 recipes to come up with. Both soups were yummy and well received.

 

My daughter Katie gave me the star bundt cake pan for Christmas so I decided to make her the Bundt Spice cake she enjoys. Here are the thick hearty soups we served along with bread and salad…

 

For more Blue Monday posts visit Smiling Sally and on Tuesday for more tablescapes visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Ode to the Sniffles

 

So Dear and I have been sick in the head and throat since early Friday. I had to leave Bible Study early and he came home from work early on Friday morning.  Weird that this attacked us at the same time. We’ve been convalescing in the Condo since Friday. When we get sick in the head we always turn to the Chinese Take-Out for Hot and Sour Soup. It really clears the sinuses! On Saturday evening we got tired of raiding the refrigerator and were craving some salty, comfort, bad for you food. We called one of our favorite restaurants and ordered Onion Rings and The Cuban Sandwich with curly fries. (Thank goodness it’s not stomach flu) Here’s a poem about the flu written in 1919. Update: Dee commented wondering if this was written during the Great Flu Pandemic and it probably was as the Pandemic was between 1918 and 1919. Somewhere between 20-40 million people died.

The Flu ~ by J.P. Mcelvoy, 1919

When your back is broke and your eyes are blurred.
And your shin-bones knock and your tongue is furred,
And your tonsils squeak and your hair gets dry,
And youâre doggone sure that youâre going to die,
But youâre skeered you wonât and afraid you will,
Just drag to bed and have your chill;
And pray the Lord to see you through
For youâve got the Flu, boy,

Youâve got the Flu.

When your toes curl up and your belt goes flat,
And youâre twice as mean as a Thomas cat,
And life is a long and dismal curse,
And your food all tastes like a hard-boiled hearse,
When your lattice aches and your headâs abuzz
And nothing is as it ever was,
Here are my sad regrets to you,
Youâve got the Flu, boy,

Youâve got the Flu.

What is it like, this Spanish Flu?
Ask me, brother, for Iâve been through,
It is by Misery out of Despair,
It pulls your teeth and curls your hair,
It thins your blood and brays your bones
And fills your craw with moans and groans,
And sometimes, maybe, you get well —
Some call it Flu — I call it hell!

Hope your weekend is going better. Looking forward to a new healthier week! :0)

Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs ~

 

INGREDIENTS

    • 4 pounds pork baby back ribs

 

    • salt and pepper to taste

 

    • 2 cups ketchup

 

    • 1 cup chili sauce

 

    • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

 

    • 4 tablespoons vinegar

 

    • 2 teaspoons dried oregano

 

    • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

 

    1 dash hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). I browned the ribs on the stove top.
  2. Season ribs with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow baking pan. Brown in oven 15 minutes. Turn over, and brown another 15 minutes; drain fat.
  3. In a medium bowl, mix together the ketchup, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs, and turn to coat.
  4. Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 8 hours, or until ribs are tender.

I got this recipe from all recipes.com here.

Since this was my first time making ribs in a slow cooker I went with the first recipe that looked decent. This sauce was very good. Since I made these on Saturday I’ve read a couple other recipes and this is the sauce I’ll try next time to see if it has a little more kick to it.

These ingredients come from Taste of Home Magazine ~ Tasty Pork Ribs ~ Feb/March 2008 Recipe by Michelle Rominger…

1 cup ketchup, 1 cup bbq sauce, 1/4 C. packed brown sugar, 1/4 C. worcestershire sauce, 1 Tblsp. balsamic vinegar, 1 tblsp. molasses, 1 garlic clove minced, 2 tblsps. dried minced onion, 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning, 1 tsp. ground mustard, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper.

 

Oops! I don’t see anything green on the plate. Can anyone say COMFORT FOOD?

Photobucket is holding my photos hostage from 2007-2015 and replacing them with an ugly black and grey squares demanding money to release them, so frustrating.