Happy to pose for the camera at Family Holiday Party

Tammy Frazier with mom, Delores Tomasek,
Chair Carolyn Mendoza, Norman Jean Coulter with granddaughter

Carol Vie brought 9 friends to enjoy Wizard of Oz

Patti Goss, Pat Christopherson, Aaron and Jackie Berkowitz

Ruth and Al McLeod

Dads Special Chili With Mushrooms

WWII Veteran Al Rutter celebrating his
95th birthday with Great Granddaughter Julia.

Dad is a good friend in Michigan. Al Rutter is a Great Grand Dad and he loves this chili. 

Dads Special Chili With Mushrooms
Ingredients:
2# lean ground beef       
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cans Bush Chili Beans
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
2 glass jars mushrooms stems and pieces
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Brown beef in large skillet.  Remove beef to chili pot. Add onions, garlic & celery to skillet and cook until soft (5-8 minutes). Drain excess fat.  Add to chili pot along with remaining ingredients. Mix well, semi-cover and simmer or 2-3 hours, stirring often.

Suggested toppings are sour cream, shredded cheese, avocado chunks, chopped onion.
ENJOY!

Note: These beans are great to make ahead.
For those vegetarians, they are also wonderful without the meat.

Amish Friendship Bread

Found this package on my doorstep last week and what a treat from my friend, Carol. I am working on my first batch, then will share with friends. Notice the ziploc bag is full of air - Lots of fermentation going on. Wonder how many people have done this?

Important: Do not use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing. DO NOT refrigerate and do not bake in a convection oven.
If air gets into the bag, let it out. It is normal for the batter to rise & ferment.

Day 1: Do nothing, this is the day you received the batter.
Day 2: Mush the bag
Day 3: Mush the bag
Day 4: Mush the bag
Day 5: Mush the bag
Day 6: Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, Mush the bag.
Day 7: Mush the bag
Day 8: Mush the bag
Day 9: Mush the bag
Day 10: Follow the directions below:
1. Pour the entire contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl.
2. add 1 ½ cup flour, 1 ½ cup sugar, 1 ½ cup milk
3. Measure out separate batter of 1 cup each into 4 Ziploc 1 gallon size bags. Keep a starter bag for yourself and give 3 to friends with a copy of the recipe. Mark all bags with the date you put together in case it is not being passed on the 1st day.
4. Preheat oven 325 degrees.
5. To the remaining batter in the bowl add (mix dry ingredients together first):
3 eggs
1 cup of oil (or ½ cup of oil and ½ cup applesauce)
½ cup milk
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. each of vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt
2 cups of flour
1 large box of Vanilla Instant pudding mix
Optional: ½ cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips
6. Grease 2 large loaf pans or 1 Bundt pan and mix additional ½ cup sugar and 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon. Dust the greased pan with the mixture.
7. Pour batter evenly into the pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar/cinnamon mixture over the top.
8. Bake 1 hour. Cool until bread loosens from pan evenly (about 10 minutes). Serve warm or cold.


Note: if you keep a starter for yourself, you will be baking every 10 days. The bread is very good and makes a great gift. If you give all the starters away, you will have to wait until someone gives one back to you.

How to get all that good batter out of a ziploc bag? I rubber banded it to my cupboard knob and let it drip.

Chocolate Variation- omit the cinnamon, replace the vanilla pudding with sugar-free chocolate fudge pudding, add 3 oz. of chopped bittersweet chocolate, and 1/2 cup chopped pecans.
Lemon Variation - omit the cinnamon, use sugar-free lemon pudding, add 1 teaspoon of lemon extract, and 1 cup of frozen wild blueberries, thawed and drained.

Cranberry Coffee Cake

Here we are bringing snacks to our Master Gardener class. The class enjoys it when our turn comes up because they know the recipes are good from Tastes & Treasures cookbook. That's Carol Vie (the blonde) in the green shirt with the oval pan of yummy coffee cake. It was gobbled up very quickly. I'm in the middle with Carrot Bread pg. 197 and Serge Vie (Carol's son) with Salmon Pate pg. 166.

Cranberry Coffee Cake pg. 199
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can whole cranberry sauce

Confectioners' Sugar Glaze
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons (about) warm water
2 teaspoons lemon juice

For the Coffee Cake: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Beat the butter in a bowl of a stand mixer until creamy. Add the sugar gradually, beating constantly until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the lemon juice and 1/4 cup of the walnuts.
Spoon half the batter into a greased and floured tube pan, 9 X 13 inch baking pan or bundt pan. Spread with 1/2 of the cranberry sauce. Top with the remaining batter and remaining cranberry sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup walnuts. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes for the tube pan or bundt pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes for the 9 X 13 pan or until the coffee cake tests done. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and invert onto a serving platter.

For the Glaze: mix the confectioners' sugar, warm water and lemon juice in a bowl until of a glaze consistency. Drizzle over the warm coffee cake. Let stand until set.

Serves 16

Recipes well received at Master Gardener class.

Work in the garden and you'll work up an appetite, as attested by the food consumed at my Master Gardener class. Every 5 weeks my group is responsible for bringing in 'snacks' for the class. I brought in Tabouli Salad pg. 130 and Very Lemon Bread pg. 119. My friend, Carol, brought in Granola pg. 196.
The lemon bread had been stored in the freezer and it served much nicer and firmer than when fresh. It looks so nice with fresh lemon slices and fresh blueberries.
Carol's son, Serge, loved the Tabouli Salad...very refreshing with mint, parsley, basil, green onion, tomato and lemon juice.
Historymaker Eddie Basha commented on this recipe, "As long as I can remember, tabouli salad was a favorite in our family regardless of the day of the week or season of the year. This culinary and Lebanese delight continues to be a most popular salad of the Basha family."

TABOULI SALAD
1/2 cup cracked wheat
4 tomatoes, chopped
3 bunches parsley, stemmed and chopped
1 bunch green onions, sliced
Small handful of fresh mint, stemmed and chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Soak the cracked wheat in enough water to generously cover in a bowl for 30 minutes and drain. Press the excess moisture from the cracked wheat. Combine the cracked wheat, tomatoes, parsley, green onions and mint in a bowl and mix well. Stir in the olive oil and lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Delicious served cupped in a variety of lettuce or fresh grape leaves. Serves 6 to 8.

Option: I used more lemon juice and less oil. Also used whole grain quinoa and cooked it first according to instructions. Used fresh chopped basil from my garden.