Thursday, November 19, 2015

What Could Be Cookin' At The 'Creek?

if I were cooking...



Greetings!

I've admitted before that cooking is not my favorite thing.  But, I really admire folks who have a passion for it (and especially share the by-products of that passion!)  Sometimes one has to cook and believe it or not, there have been times where I have gotten compliments!  I thought I would share a few recipes with you now to try out this holiday season.

None of the recipes are complicated or require exotic ingredients, though the stuffing takes a little time.  Most are from the backs of boxes or cans, family or friends (who probably got them off the back of boxes or cans LOL!)  However, they are really good and full of calories.  Feel free to share these and Enjoy!



Corn Pudding:

2 EGGS, BEATEN
1/2 C BUTTER, MELTED
1 8.5 OZ BOX OF JIFFY CORNBREAD MIX
1 15 OZ CAN WHOLE KERNEL CORN, DRAINED
1 14.4 OZ CAN OF CREAMED CORN
1 C SOUR CREAM

Place in buttered baking dish and put into a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown.


Marynelle's stuffing:  

1 1/2 LOAVES DRIED BREAD TORN INTO SMALL PIECES
3 EGGS
1 CAN CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP
1/3 LB OF BACON, LIGHTLY BROWNED (STILL SOFT) AND CHOPPED
1 C CELERY, CHOPPED
1 LG CAN MUSHROOM PIECES, DRAINED
1/2 CHOPPED ONION
POULTRY SEASONING, SALT & PEPPER TO TASTE
1 1/2 LBS BUTTER, MELTED

Using the biggest bowl you have mix wet ingredients, then add bacon and seasonings.  Stir in bread gradually.  Put in a greased pan or pans and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, according to how deep it is.  If by chance you over bake, you can generally save it by adding a tiny bit of turkey broth.


Barb's Broccoli & Cheese Casserole:

2 16 OZ PKGS OF FROZEN BROCCOLI FLORETS
1/2 LG BOX OF VELVETTA
2 STICKS BUTTER
2 ROWS OF RITZ CRACKERS

Cook broccoli until just tender, but not soggy.  It will finish cooking in the oven.  Pour out water and add 1 stick of butter while pan is warm.  Then add chunks of Velvetta until all is melted.

While broccoli is cooking put 2 rows of crackers in a gallon size baggie.  Crunch with rolling pin, but leave little hunks.  Add 1 stick of melted butter to the bag and mush around until all is moistened.

Pour broccoli mixture into buttered 11 x 14 dish.  Layer the cracker mixture on top.  Put in 350 degree oven 20 mins or until bubbly and slightly browned.


Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Dip:  

8 OZ CREAM CHEESE, SOFTENED
1/2 CUP UNSALTED BUTTER, SOFTENED
3/4 C CONFECTIONER'S SUGAR
2 TABLESPOONS BROWN SUGAR
1 TEASPOON VANILLA EXTRACT
1 CUP OF MINIATURE SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Beat cream cheese and butter together in a bowl until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla to the cheese mixture; stir. Stir chocolate chips through the cheese mixture.  Some folks shape into a ball and decorate, but we dip it out of the bowl with chocolate graham cracker sticks.


Pink Fluffy Stuff aka Ambrosia:

1 LG. CAN CHERRY PIE FILLING
1 TUB OF COOL WHIP (not low calorie--I prefer whipped cream, but I make an exception for this)
1/2 PKG OR SO MINI MARSHMALLOWS (colored or plain)
1 CAN PINEAPPLE TIDBITS
1 JAR MARASCHINO CHERRIES DRAINED
1 CAN MANDARIN ORANGE SEGMENTS DRAINED
1 CAN SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK

Dump all in bowl, stir, refrigerator a couple of hours and serve.


Candied Pecans:

1 LB BAG OF SHELLED PECAN HALVES
1/4 C OF ORANGE JUICE
1 C OF GRANULATED SUGAR

Put all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl.  Cook on high, stirring every 2 minutes until sugar crystalizes (about 6-8 mins) being careful not to burn them.  Pour onto greased cookie sheet and separate to cool.  Store in an airtight container.

Tried and True (See the back of the packages):

Ocean Spray Whole Cranberry Sauce  (It doesn't get any easier than this!)

Key Lime Pie with Graham Cracker Crust (on the back of the key lime juice bottle.)

Jiffy Mix Cornbread  (People love that I add whole kernel corn to it.  It makes it more moist and less bland.)

Until next time!

Gale

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Lucky You! A "Two-For" Review!

Hello 'Creekers!

Audra and I feel it is our duty to scour Central Ohio for good food (hey, why make something that takes an hour when you can drive an hour there, wait in line and drive an hour back???)

Today we are featuring not one, but two really good sandwich places.  Both were started as family-owned restaurants.  The first one we visited is popular with the Ohio Wesleyan students in Delaware.  There is also one near Polaris Mall.  Turns out it is a national chain so you can look it up at their website linked here:

820 Sunbury Road, Delaware, Ohio location
Dickey's Barbecue Pit




Their sandwiches are huge and reasonably priced.  The meals are the best deal.

I had the green beans.  They were spicy and really good, but my baked potato casserole was a tiny bit dry.  Guess that would be expected because they weren't actually mashed potatoes.


This is a strip mall type place you can either eat in or get take out if you think you will get sauce all over you.  You pick the sauce out and dispense in a cup.

Then then we have...  




This is the largest photo I could find.  It is located at 830 Bethel Road in Columbus, Ohio.

This place is connected to Hoggy's and serves really good sandwiches.  I had the Steakhouse Cheesesteak with Provolone.  Audra likes the meatball one.  You can get several sides, but most everyone gets the homemade potato chips which are served warm and come with a sauce sort of like Cane's sauce.  Well, more than sort of...  the prices weren't terrible and the wait for our carry-out was short.  They also serve pasta dishes and paninis.





For more info on either of these, just hit the links above.  

Shortly, I will be posting a "cookbook" with recipes I like when I have to cook!

Until then,

Gale




Tuesday, November 10, 2015

A Very Scary Halloween- Part Two

Hello!

Well, there were some fun moments...

After work I was planning to start up the fire pit in the driveway, but I was alone and didn't feel right leaving it unattended as I finished up the food, etc.  Since it was cold and a couple of my friends were already not feeling well, I decided to scrap it.  Later on, we wondered why kids were passing us by even though I had all the lights on.  Turns out, they were going from fire pit to fire pit.  So I hollered out to a little shark and his mom and then folks started coming up to the door.  So, it wasn't the flood I expected, but that was fine and the extra candy disappeared in a few days...

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me and my dear "second family", a very special home was purposely being burnt down by developers.  I plan to write a post all about that house once I find the right photos, but it was a shock to see this lovely 1929 English Tudor destroyed because the land it sat on is several acres of prime real estate.  I have a lot of neat memories of the house though I only lived there a couple or so years.

Back to the fun:  Here are just a few of my favorite trick-or-treaters:

The Shark who started it all...

An Angry Bird...

Cindy Lou Who, who brought my favorite trick-or-treater of the night...

The Grinch!!!!
The next morning I decided to suck it up and rake leaves.  But, I also raked up candy!  Who says chores are thankless???  I couldn't bring myself to eat it, though it looked perfectly fine.  

Until next time, 

Gale


Sunday, November 1, 2015

More Tricks Than Treats This Very Scary Halloween-- Part One

 Hello from the 'Creek!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!  This post is way different than I originally planned.  It has been quite a weekend.  Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

I am not all that enthusiastic about dressing up, but I try to be a sport and do a little.  In the past lots of folks have gone to work in costume (see past posts).  I found a fancy witch hat and bought some fake eyelashes.  I had an all black outfit and at the last minute, decided I would take Audra's graduation gown for a photo op (that I never got around to doing.)

I had to be at work at 7 a.m. Halloween.  I let the "girls" out of their pen and they joined me for a breakfast of string cheese.  I am not awake enough to prepare anything, but I have to eat something with my meds or I get pukey feeling.

The girls followed me to my bathroom and were standing at the door when I dropped a pill.  I heard it bounce on the counter, but in the 1/10th of a second of putting down the bottle so as not to spill more, I lost track of that pill.  I grab the dogs and throw them up on my bed and start crawling all over looking for that pill.  I couldn't find it anywhere in the bathroom or in my bedroom.

So, panic mode sets in.  I pull open the vent, go through the trash, shake out the rug, crawl around the toilet with no luck.  I couldn't get the sink stopper out.  Well, Carrie (the adorable Yorkie pictured in my last post) who sticks to me like glue, has a habit of inhaling treats, etc.  She is sitting on the bed watching me acting normal.

Well, I didn't see a choice on the outside chance she'd grabbed it, so I grab her up and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and go to the deck.  I pour some down her, but she didn't barf right away, so I did it again.  She just stared at me mortified.  I put her in her pen because now I am also running late and no matter what I had to a least get clothes on.  (Note:  There are times when you would not want to induce vomiting!  It can make matters worse.  I did it because almost no time had elapsed.  If the dog starts showing symptoms of poisoning, do NOT do this!)

I went back to her and she had barfed.  Yeah, sort of.  Chunks of cheese, whole bits of dog food from the night before, but no pill.  Good!  and bad...  That means the pill is still somewhere, so more crawling around.  Finally, I get up Audra and tell her to sleep on the sofa with both dogs, though I was sure the Chin couldn't possibly have gotten it as she was farther away.

I told her to watch them and not let them go to sleep.  If there were any issues, call me while getting to the vet's office up the road who would likely be open at 8.  We don't have emergency vets nearby and it was almost 7.  I was pretty sure they were fine as a 1/2 hour had passed already.  Fortunately, all is well with them.

Well, this threw a real wrench in the costume thing, so I grabbed up my stuff and got to work.  The hat was a hair small, so I took some big bobby pins along.  I had my makeup and the eyelashes as well.  I have no experience with the eyelashes so a friend put them on me bless her heart.  Somehow glue got in my eyes and on my upper eyelid and it burns.

Then we wrangled on the hat, which I kept whacking on everything as I forgot what a wide brim it had.  Didn't fit in the car at lunch or on our power equipment.  Couldn't take it off as it was pinned on--though some unknowing folks tried pulling it off.  That hurt, plus my hair was a wreck underneath...

Worst part, only 3 or 4 of us did anything for a costume,  (I was just wearing a black top and jeans, so not as ridiculous looking as I could have been..plus my lovely red vest.)  I owe a manager a little payback when he jokingly said to a fellow employee, "I wonder why Gale didn't dress up this year?"  Good thing I know he was kidding as he is a good guy...

Last, but not least, the last Jack Russell Terrier re-joined Ivy and Tucker in the "Happy Hunting Grounds."  There is a previous post just about her called "Good Karma, Bad Karma."  Good bye "Karmie Doodles."

We haven't even gotten to the Trick or Treat part or what happened today, but I don't want a super long post...

So until next time...

Gale


Rest In Peace

Brandywine Karma of Darby Creek

JRTCA Bronze Medallion Working Terrier
September 9, 1999- October 31, 2015