Wow! 2015 Coming Fast

Where did 2014 go? I just read another FarmGirl's view of the coming new year. Take life slowly she says. Good advice, I think. There's more to it than what she covered. In my life, death is trying to stalk us. My son's cancer is still there. It makes us look at life very differently. So, how to approach 2015? Savor every moment Dori advises. Be spontaneous. Savor every moment.
This Christmas I really didn't want any gifts. They became meaningless. I wanted to see and be with my family. We were together, all of us. How beautiful it was. I did savor. I took some photos. Photos will be important later, memories will be cherished. Feelings were shared and welcomed. It was sweet, it was heartwarming. Why haven't we done this before? Treasured feelings. In the past, they came in like breezes and left. Now they arrive as arrows aimed straight at the heart and there they stay.
I cannot take life for granted. I know that now. The road in 2015 will be different. I will take it slowly. I won't miss an opportunity to let someone know I care about them.
To those of you who read this, please know I wish you the very best 2015. Your happiness is important. Keep well, keep wise, and let's all savor every moment we can.......

Diabetics on my list--what can I make them?

What can I make these people who have diabetes? We often think of making "goodies" for Christmas gifts. This doesn't help my adult friends and family members who have diabetes. I needed to think more savory or just something different. I saw a recipe for a creamer. It called for non-fat dry milk in the recipe. I found a company that dries certain kinds of foods, so.......I checked them out to see if they had dried cream. I didn't want to make a coffee creamer with non-fat milk..sorry...that's YUK! Well, now off we go. I now realize I could make some killer creamer to give these coffee drinkers. The creamer also contains cinnamon known to lower and control blood sugar. Yeah! And, I chose to make it with stevia. Now, we're cooking.....
In order to make 1 batch, I suggest 2. you need 1 cup of the powdered cream (made by Hoosier Farms, found on Amazon), 1/3 cup stevia, 1 teaspoon cinnamon (used Kirkland's Saigon Cinnamon, found at Costco). Mix thoroughly in a small bowl. Scoop into jars. The batch made 1 and a half half-pint jars. So make 2 batches. I kept some for myself. After tasting it, I love the ratio of cinnamon and cream, just not used to the sweetening. May leave out the stevia for me.

My brain kept rolling. What if I put it into small canning jars, wrapped some wire around the bottom of the rings and make a round shape to hold a small spoon! Awesome...tested some wire I had around the house and I can make this work. I love when everything comes together!
Taste: I love it, but not used to anything sweet in my coffee!
Design: It looks great in a canning jar, like a double gift. Who can't use a canning jar? I have the plastic lid on it, so it's usefulness just went up.
In trying the creamer, it stirred and dissolved quickly in my cup of coffee. I'm enjoying it right now. So delicious. I can totally see this in cocoa. Might have to make more.......

Fun Season & Snickerdoodles

 We're decorated, tree's up, greenery in place. We have a variegated holly bush that's loaded with berries. We bring a few branches in the house to decorate. But, something's different here.

Hubby played football for our alma mater, University of Oregon. He's followed their football program for years. He got so excited when Oregon won the Pac 12 title and is off to the Rose Bowl, he ordered tickets for the game and airfare, hotel, car rental. This is normally a very frugal man. That's how excited he is! And, the icing on the cake.......the quarterback, Marcus Mariota, won the Heisman trophy, gave a speech that set many eyes to tear up. I know that fireworks were set off tonight in my hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii. First person from Hawaii to garnish that trophy and the first winner from UO. We're mighty proud. Our Ducks are off and running. My whole family loves football so this is truly a fun time.

This Christmas we vowed to make our gifts. I love the direction everyone is going in. I knew it would be a challenge. Everyone is rising up to it. Our Farm Girl chapter made mason jar bags. Most of us canned goodies to share as gifts. These turned out adorable.

Back to reality: most of us will be running crazy trying to get all our baking, sewing, quilting, cooking, etc. done this season. I'm going to share a short cut for at least one favorite cookie often baked at Christmastime--Snickerdoodles!
  Ingredients 3 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 box of white cake mix (we used Betty Crocker) yellow cake mix works OK*
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Set mixture aside.
3. Thoroughly combine cake mix, butter, egg, cream of tartar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
4. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Then, place dough balls one by one into cinnamon sugar mixture and roll them around until they’re covered. Place dough balls about two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until set. The cookies will be softer the less you bake them. Once fully baked, remove them from the cookie sheet and transfer them to a cooling rack.

*There are organic cake mixes. I often find them at Trader Joe's.

Give Thanks

My family is gathering this Thursday. We will be complete: one husband, one son, one daughter and two grand children. This is perfect. I don't know what the future will bring. Don't know how long my son will be here. We won't know if the chemo given to him has done anything, not until January. Meanwhile I enjoy every living moment we have together. And, I will give thanks for this. So much has changed since July 10th when we were told his diagnosis. Such news that a condition is permanent, terminal, makes you reevaluate your life, your attitudes, your beliefs, what you value.

We will laugh, we will eat our favorite foods, the ones we always have for Thanksgiving. We will savor each moment. We will take pictures to enjoy later. Grandkids will want more whipped cream on their favorite dessert: pumpkin pie. We'll have to watch them to make sure they don't devour it all! We'll talk of Christmas, getting our tree and decorating it. We'll be mindful of all our traditions, all our moments together. Football will be watched, cheers and grunts will be heard.
I will give thanks for all these moments.......they're precious.

Grandkids and Cowboy Spaghetti

Cowboy Spaghetti Recipe

With grandkids coming this weekend, I wanted to do something fun for them. They love bacon and spaghetti. How can I go wrong? This delicious spaghetti is topped with green onions and shredded cheddar cheese.

Ingredients:
1 lb spaghetti noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 slices smoky bacon (chopped)
1lb ground beef
1 medium onion
4 garlic cloves (minced)
Ground black pepper (to taste)
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ cup beer
1 (14 ounce) can fired roasted diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
shredded cheddar cheese
green onions (chopped)
Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. This can be done while you’re making the sauce. Heat a large deep skillet to medium-high heat. Add olive oil and add bacon. Fry bacon until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Step 2: In the same skillet add ground beef and chop up with a spatula or metal spoon while cooking. Cook until the beef is browned. Add onions and garlic, stir into the meat. Season with salt, pepper, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Add the beer to the pan and stir in. Cook for 5-6 minutes and stir in tomatoes and tomato sauce. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Step 3: Add spaghetti noodles to the meat and sauce and combine. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and green onions.
(Makes 6 Servings)
You can vary the tomatoes you use, not add the beer, etc. As long as they don't see me putting in the beer, they'll enjoy the flavor of this sauce, not doubt, attributing the goodness to the bacon.

Cranberries

Cranberries are so very good for you. And, they're gorgeous. I love how they cook up. Our MJ Farm chapter is getting together to try out some cranberry sauces. I've had some very interesting recipes, one was to make fresh and the others were for canning. Some of us host families both on Thanksgiving and Christmas. We seriously need some sauces canned.
But, I've discovered one terrible thing! I'm not sure one of theses sauces will even make it to Thanksgiving, much less Christmas. I had some leftover from filling the canning jars. It went into the fridge to gel up and develop its flavors. Tried it this morning.....Wow! it's really good. The recipe called for up to 3/4 cup of honey. When I tasted the sauce in the pot, it was way too tart. I added some raw sugar. Let it melt and cook thru, tasted again. Still needed a bit more sweetness. A little more raw sugar. I was out of honey. It was so much better. (I noticed the fresh cranberries I used from Oregon were whitish pink and light red, so they were very tart, more than usual.) This sauce is combined with apples, some orange peel, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
The first recipe I made used jalapeno pepper. It was the last pepper in my garden. That made just one pint. It's on the tart side, and packs a little heat. Worth putting on the table for Thanksgiving. The final sauce I'm making is actually called a Cranberry-Pineapple Salad. Other than adding the crushed pineapple, the other ingredient that makes this one unique is some walnuts. It's great this time of year, one can find freshly dried nuts such as walnuts. My daughter requested this one. I read her the ingredients and she's so excited to know it'll be part of our meal. Having all these choices, I'll just serve all three. But, wait....there may be a fourth one! One of our members is making the cranberry sauce which includes fresh ginger. We're going to trade jars!! Soooo after our chapter meeting, four different sauces will be on our menu. Dying to try this one.
Cranberry sauce is fantastic with ham, chicken and some fish dishes. 
Here's the Cranberry Apple Sauce....
24 ounces fresh cranberries
6 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1/4 - 3/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. allspice (you could use cloves if you like)
1 orange, peel off only the orange orange peel

Put all ingredient in a large pot. Cook slowly and on low heat. Once you see that the apples have lost their texture and becomes sauce, and all cranberries have popped, remove the peel. Taste for sweetness and spices. I added more raw sugar and more cinnamon and nutmeg.

This is how it should look when ready to can.
Use sterilized half-pint jars, fill 6. Water bath can for 15 minutes. Leave in canner for 5 minutes, then removed to cool on a towel. Check for seal 24 hours later. Label and store.

Another holiday's coming--time to bake and reflect.....

With company coming in a few weeks and in between, my thoughts  have gone to these delectable cookies and the wonderful people who may enjoy them. These are soft pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies. One will do you. So even my low carb friends will enjoy one! I'm baking a few batches and will freeze some because of all the people who will be dropping by before Thanksgiving. We have extended family and we hope to see them throughout this holiday time. Their little ones loves these cookies, so I need a bunch! I look around me and think of the people I love. How can one not be grateful? Life brings us surprises, some good, some very bad. We survive and then realize, we survived. We're still here, ready to take on another day. Make up a batch or two, they are "love" cookies. You'll see....
 Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients

1 c canned pumpkin pie mix (Note: this says MIX)

1 c sugar

1/2 c canola oil

1 egg

2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 c semi-sweet chocolate chunks (dark chocolate works very well)

1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tsp. milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Drop cookies onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.