One certainly appreciates the warm sunny days of late and only enough rain to water the plants and not delay the harvest that is about to happen. No frost yet and the crops have been given some extra time to mature after the late planting this spring. Over the years I have seen all phases of fall weather from the warm-hot temperatures, frost, rain, and even snow in September. My Dad said he recalled one year it had snowed sometime every month of the year. Uff Da! It’s bad enough to see snow in late September or early October such as in 1951. I won’t forget that as it was my first date with Robert and SHS homecoming. Remember the smell of a new Perm (Toni) when wet and a wet wool coat. It’s a wonder he ever came back. I’m sure I have written about that before but some memories never go away.
Several members of my family came to help sort, clean and move my accumulation. Do you also wonder why you think you have to save some things and when they are gone you don’t miss them? It seems like there is always a reason to go and buy or it was such a good deal that you couldn’t pass it up as someday it may be just what you need. Years ago I cut many articles from magazines, papers, and whatever. I think I inherited that from my mother who also saved a large number of readings. There are programs for each holiday, baby and bridal showers – games, readings, devotionals, advice, lots of newspaper clippings, etc. I put out grocery bags with each of our children’s names on them and lots of pictures and memorabilia went to each one and they can do what they want with it. We didn’t get done but we had a good time reminiscing various events and trying to decide which picture belonged to each. I wasn’t very good at writing names on the back and then why did we have so many pictures of people we hardly knew. There were double pictures of the tornado damage in Chandler and Lake Wilson. For some reason, we often got double prints when the pictures were processed. We also found several canisters of film for a 35 mm camera. Alexis continues to use those for some of her photography. I still had a disc camera with film in it along with quite a few other cameras. I wonder where she has them processed. A good house cleaning that probably should have been done more periodically.
Country Chicken-Bacon Pot Pie
6 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 pieces
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 large onion, cut into wedges
1 1/2 cups frozen sliced carrots, thawed
1 can cream-style corn
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons country-style Dijon mustard
1 refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (1 oz.)
Chopped fresh parsley
Heat oven to 400º. Grease 11 x 7-inch glass baking dish with shortening or cooking spray.
In skillet, cook bacon until crisp remove with slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Discard all but 1 tablespoon drippings. Cook chicken, salt and pepper in drippings over medium-high heat 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion; cook about 5 minutes or until onion is tender and chicken is no longer pink in center. Stir in carrots, corn, broth, and mustard. Heat to boiling; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in bacon. Spoon into baking dish.
Unroll pie crust on work surface. Cut into 1-1/2 inch wide strips. Place 4 strips crosswise over filling, trimming to fit. Place 3 longest strips lengthwise overfilling. Brush strips with milk. Bake 30-35 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly. Sprinkle cheese over crust. Bake 1 to 2 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with parsley. Makes 4 servings.
Taffy Apple Salad
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
4-1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 carton (8 ounces) whipped topping, thawed
3 cups diced unpeeled apples
1-1/2 cups lightly salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Drain pineapple, reserving juice. In a large bowl, combine pineapple and marshmallows; cover and refrigerate for several hours.
In a saucepan, combine the egg, sugars, flour, vinegar, and reserved pineapple juice cook and stir until mixture thickens and reaches 160º. Remove from the heat; cool. Cover and refrigerate.
Fold whipped topping into the chilled dressing. Add the apples and peanuts to the pineapple and marshmallows. Fold dressing into fruit mixture. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 10-12 servings.
Lemon Zucchini Bread
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 pkg. (3.4 ounces) instant lemon pudding mix
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/4 cup poppy seeds
Combine the flour, sugar, pudding mix, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, oil, lemon juice, and extract. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the zucchini, poppy seeds and lemon peel.
Pour into two greased 9×5-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350º for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
