Happy Fourth of July!

My decorations are going up today and the smoker is already cooking away.

If you head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook you will see a recipe for easy delicious Pork Loin Ribs slow roasted in the oven.

God Bless America

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance to the land that’s free,

Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God Bless America

Land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with the light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies

To the oceans, white with foam.

God bless America, My own sweet home

God bless America, My own sweet home.

God bless America and God bless all who visit here!

Ditt enn Daut…

This and that from the rest of our time in Manitoba…and of course food is involved. These events are not in any particular order.

This was the Retreat Center that we stayed in during our time in Manitoba. Our last morning there we took our coffee out on the wrap around porch.

Betty is keeping an eye on me as I trek through the tall grass and weeds over to the church next door to take a stroll through their cemetery. She was hoping I wouldn’t end up with ticks on my legs. Yikes!

Here I go…

When I got back from my trek I found most of the girls having their coffee on the porch while we waited to enjoy our breakfast. Or maybe this was after breakfast. Anyhoo I won’t say out loud on my blog what I said to make them laugh.

One thing for sure is that we did not go hungry on any day or for any meal!

We were able to make a quick stop at Betty’s home and have a little tour to see where she cooks. While we were there a storm blew through and Lovella was excited to get out into it. The reason she’s toting that hanging plant is a whole other story.

While in Betty’s community we stopped at Main Bread & Butter Co. so some of the girls could buy some famous Bothwell Squeaky Cheese. We were excited to see our book for sale on one of their displays.

Now we are all the way back to the beginning of our time in Manitoba and our first night at the Women Refreshed at the Well Retreat Center. We pretty much started with good food and ended with good food. After all…it was a cookbook signing tour.

This was Charlotte’s Cake that she made for our dessert on our first evening.

We are grateful to God for all he has done in each of our lives and the great times that we enjoy together.

It’s been good to have a large chunk of this week without any plans or appointments. The next thing on the calendar is a bridal shower on Saturday for my nephew’s future bride. Those of us up here in the PNW are happy to be able to attend a family shower without having to fly. We will be flying to the wedding in August that will be in the Santa Barbara area.

I’m experimenting with a new way to make ribs in the oven and if the recipe turns out well I’ll be sharing it on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook website on the 4th of July. Time will tell since I’m cooking it low and slow…

Fancy Egg Scramble…

Fancy eggs with no fuss the morning of. This was a go to recipe years ago and I decided to revive it and make it for a Sunday meal. It worked out great for inviting someone from church for brunch. We go to the 9:00 a.m. service. By the time our company found our home the egg dish was in the oven and half way done. Before church I washed the fruit and mixed it together. The other way I simplified the meal was to have muffins that were purchased. We were able to sit down and enjoy a meal and conversation with no fussing over the meal.

We enjoyed this make-ahead breakfast dish years ago and I finally revived it for brunch recently. Everyone enjoyed it.

1 cup diced ham
1/4 cup chopped green onion (scallions)
3 tablespoons butter
12 eggs beaten
1 6oz. can diced Green Chiles

Cheese Sauce:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Method:

Melt butter in heavy large skillet. Saute ham and green onions in butter.
Add beaten eggs and diced green chilies.
Mix ingredients and cook until eggs are just set. Remove from heat and prepare cheese sauce.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy bottom pan.
Add flour, salt and pepper to butter and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes.
Add the 2 cups of milk gradually and blend well. Cook to a gentle boil.
Add the grated cheese and mix well until cheese is melted. Add the cheese sauce to the egg mixture and fold in till combined.
Pour mixture into lightly greased 9×12 casserole dish.
Cover and refrigerate overnight until 30-40 minutes before you want to serve the dish
Cook uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Serve with fruit and muffins or toast. Serves 6

We had this meal on Memorial Day weekend so it was also fun to set the table ahead of time and enjoy it all weekend.

This is a traveling week for me. Dear has been away since last Thursday and he arrives home tomorrow. I’m very excited to be reunited with him before I leave for Canada to fly to Winnipeg with the “girls” for some book signing events. I’ve never been to that part of Canada and I’m looking forward to seeing where our Betty and Charlotte live.

Hope you all have a good first full week of June!

Rhubarb Coffee Cake ~

In April I visited the Skagit Valley Tulip festival and after I walked through the beautiful tulip fields I stopped at a fresh road stand market in the valley on my way back home. They had fresh rhubarb from their fields available so I decided to buy some to take home. I ended up making a Rhubarb Coffee Cake.

I’ll admit that I had never used rhubarb in my kitchen before but was pleased with the lovely color and result.

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Filling:

3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
4 cups fresh washed and chopped rhubarb
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

Optional:

You can add 1 cup fresh blueberries and 1 cup fresh strawberries or 2 cups fresh strawberries and then cut down on the rhubarb to 2 cups.

Cake:

3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cold butter
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I used powdered buttermilk mix)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal

1/4 cup cold butter

For the filling:

Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a sauce pot and add in the rhubarb.
Cook over medium heat until the sugar and cornstarch dissolves with the liquid that is extracted from cooking the rhubarb.
Cook for at least 2 minutes. This helps the cornstarch break down.
Remove from heat and add the lemon juice. Allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9 x 13 baking pan by lightly greasing it.

Method for Cake and Topping:

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together in bowl.
Cut in the butter.
Beat eggs, buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl and add to the the other ingredients until moistened.
Put 2/3 of this batter into prepared pan.
Spread the filling on top of this layer.
Add the remaining batter on top spreading it as evenly as you can. Don’t worry if you can’t cover it all. Also the batter will be sticky to deal. You can grease your fingers with a little butter to help spread the batter.
In a small bowl combine the dry topping ingredients.
Cut in the butter until crumbly.
Spread the topping over the top of the last layer of batter as evenly as possible.
Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes or until tester comes out clean and top begins to become golden brown. Ovens vary, so check after 45 minutes and don’t worry if it takes longer than 50 minutes.

Set the Table…

…and they will come!

On Monday night we gathered around the table to enjoy our visitors from California. We had stuffed cabbage that we call Goluptsi. You can see the recipe here. We had a wonderful salad with lots of goodies chopped in it and dressed with our favorite Persian Dressing.

Thursday the MGCC girls are being interviewed by Suzanne Woods Fisher at 2:00 PST and 5:00 EST on her Amish Wisdom show. You can listen in on a live feed here.

I’m linking up with Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for her weekly Let’s Dish Linky Party!

Two Country Drive…

Have I ever mentioned I love being able to take in 2 countries on a drive starting from my front door? Two countries in one day with beautiful weather is a special treat. Having Katie along on this road trip was a delight for me. As we started out our trip we started singing “Oh Canada” and Katie managed to sing most of the words!

This wasn’t our best view but I found out that when I’m the driver on a road trip fewer photos are taken. Our views were truly magnificent and I don’t think a photo could have really captured the glory anyway. We saw our wonderful Cascade range of mountains starting in the U.S.A. with many more glorious views in British Columbia. An eagle flew over us on our way up and on our way back. We drove through a lot of country that these creatures call home…

The photos from the road that I took like this one were when we were stopped for road works or at the Border Crossing. Speaking of Border crossings, I am always appreciative of the kind courtesy we receive from Border Crossing Agents from Canada and the U.S.A. I am grateful for the work they do, as thankless as it might be, to keep both our countries safer.

Our primary reason for traveling to Chilliwack was to pick up a shower gift I ordered for our niece Debbee from Winks. Katie, Laura, and I will be traveling to California soon for her bridal shower. I was so excited about seeing Kathy (one of our Mennonite Girls) at Winks I forgot again to take any photos. Kathy did a lovely job of bagging our purchase. This photo was taken after we got home. Sorry I can’t show you the gift until Debbee unwraps it. We were only at Winks for a very short time as we had a very important date down the road.

Meeting up with these Mennonite Girls was the best part of Katie and my trip. It was fun for Katie to meet them all and to see Bev again. We chattered for quite a while over our nice lunch and then parted ways. What? You want to see what we ate? Wouldn’t you know I at least got a few photos of our food.

I was real happy to see the pickle spears on our plates. Here is another question for you. Do you eat the pickle or leave it on the plate? It seems Marg and I both enjoy eating ours and are willing to eat yours, too, if you leave it there too long!!

From lunch we followed Bev to Yarrow to check out a local pottery shop that her friend Ted Dreidiger owns and where he throws and fires his beautiful creations. Umm, it’s not food, so again my camera stayed in my purse. Oye! I did take a photo of my purchase when we got home. It’s a great piece that’s perfect to warm a round of brie in or to serve other hot or cold dips in.

It was fun to visit Ted in his workshop and to see all his great pieces. Thanks Bev for suggesting this stop on our way back to the U.S.A.

As we continued home after our nice chat with the U.S. Border Officer Katie was game to see the downtown area of Lynden, Washington. Can you guess what we brought home in that box?

Bumbleberry Pie! We wanted Dear to get a taste of our trip, too.

Look at all that yummy filling!

We will be having a nice quiet day at home today with more excitement starting on Friday. It’s good to pace yourself…

What have you been up to?

Olivier Salad ~ Happy Russian New Year!

Modern Russian New Year has happened already but Old Russian New Year is later in January. I’ve posted the recipe for this salad with an interesting history on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog today. Head over to see how to put it together!

Happy Saturday to you all. I’m happy for a somewhat normal weekend. How about you?

A Small Interruption…

…to my Christmas table decor.

While working on my recipes for our Celebrations Cook book being published at the end of April in 2013 I had to redo one of my recipes which meant I needed to change out my Christmas table. I chose to set the table using my pewter pieces since my entree was a traditional English recipe. Some of my pewter pieces were acquired in England in the 70’s.

The pewter wine goblets and the Coffee service with creamer and sugar containers along with the salt and pepper shakers are from England. I decided to use the coffee pot as a vase on this occasion. The candle holders are Revere ware and the flatware is Gorham pewter. The chargers were gifted to us from our son and DIL for Christmas one year.

The runner is a gift from our son and DIL, too. I liked adding in the green goblets with the pewter.

The dishes are Royal Stafford and I think I purchased them at Marshalls.

I enjoy this table but soon it will be reset to our casual Christmas setting.

Now I need to get busy getting our Christmas cards ready to send out. Do you send out Christmas cards and do you add a personal note or do you type one Christmas letter to be included in all your cards?

We received good news yesterday from North Carolina! Our son-in-law is now a Marine Corporal. We are so proud of his achievement. I’m hoping to get an updated photo of him with his new blood stripes and pins along with his sword soon. Congratulations Marine Corporal Andrew!

Speaking of Celebrations…

…Menno Press has released our new Cookbook Cover and you can see it on the MGCC Blog. Head on over and leave a comment to be entered to win our new cookbook when it is released May of 2013!

And because I like food and eating food and celebrating with special people around the table here are some more photos from our time in Atlanta with Katie and Andrew.

On Sunday morning we caught a taxi to Ria’s Bluebird across the street from Oakland Cemetery. I was so pleased to kill two birds with one stone, eating good food and visiting a very cool old cemetery.

I ordered the small stack of buttermilk pancakes with Georgia pecans. Dear ordered an omelette with grits. We split the items between us except he ate all the grits himself.

Andrew had the Meyer Rum dipped brioche with caramelized bananas. Katie had the same omelette Dear and I shared. We all had good cups of coffee. Dear and I ordered the “shot in the dark” and Andrew and Katie had mochas. I’m always happy when my internet choices for a restaurant in a city I’m not familiar with turns out well, especially when I’m dragging 3 people along with me.

After our delicious breakfast and good coffee we walked across the street to explore the Oakland Cemetery. I’ll share more photos of the cemetery another day but I did want to share one more photo of a Seafood Pub and Restaurant that was directly across from a side entrance to the cemetery.

The name made me chuckle as I stood amongst the gravestones looking out the gate…

Hope you are having a good week. Things are busy around here and the weather has cooled. We are promised a dry night tonight for which I am happy because I’m going to another soccer game with Josh and Laura tonight. Blessings…

Almost Fully Bloomed…

Our hydrangea is finally showing us it’s color. Soon it will be fully bloomed.

I made 2 trips to Canada this past week. My first trip was full with a reunion of the girls from Mennonite Girls Can Cook. It is rare that the 10 of us can all be together but we were able to pull it off on Wednesday of last week. We enjoyed a full day together with great food and fellowship. Tuesday and Thursday sandwiched all 10 of us together on Wednesday with smaller gatherings. Hearty slices of time with a wonderful filling in between!

Fun little gifts kept coming out at our different gatherings. Here are the gifts I brought home across the line…

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul. Proverbs 16:24

Friends are the flowers in the garden of life…

This description for this gift made me smile!

A fun basket of treats on my bed from my hostess Marg. Marg brought all of us a special treat from St. Petersburg, beautifully woven napkins. My gift to the girls was not confiscated at the Border…

Bags filled with lavender. I’ll be staying in the U.S.A. this week but am looking forward to a soccer game with the English Premier team Chelsea vs. the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday.

I’m linking up with Mary for Mosaic Monday.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Mennonite Girls Can Cook