Give Thanks

 Give thanks with a grateful hear..let the weak say, 'I am strong', let the poor say, 'I am rich.' Because of what the Lord has done for us. 

Making punkin pie with pumpkins from October. Not ones Steve grew, but ones that he just purchased! 

Unfortunately, I didn't know I would be short pumpkin and ended up using canned to add a few more ounces and all in all, it was really very very good!!! 

The rolls were delectable, too. I always make the dough in the bread machine. I am not that confident with doing it by hand! 

Had to use up some of that extra pumpkin and made quasi keto bars. Mine weren't completely keto, but they did have a lot less carbs than regular pumpkin bars. 

Moses was absolutely unimpressed there was a place for Grandma, but not a place for him. He took mine for a little bit. 

The next day was spent outside. It was very cold and there were a couple of leaves left on the willow sapling. 

Steve put up more lights, including the big blue tree hanging off the locust. 

A lovely moon rose while we were outside. 

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.  

John F Kennedy 1963

Make it, bake it, eat it!

What do you do when you are reading books with recipes? Cook!!! The bread was from a recipe a friend sent. It is a cheesy bread with cojack/parmesan and I threw in some garlic flavored Mrs. Dash. When I make dough, I cheat and use the bread machine. It works VERY well! 

 It rose quite a bit too much since I stuck it in the addition to rise--where it was warm. It also got a little lopsided! 

 However, it baked quite well. I would have preferred a denser loaf, but as I said, it rose too far. It is supposed to rise just over the edge of the pan. As you can see, it rose quite a bit above the pan!

 The outside has flecks in it-you can see the cheeses and spices. The inside doesn't show much, but the flavor is amazing! It has a lovely chewy crust.

It went well with the beef stew I had planned. Yeah, it was 88 degrees today, but when you have ingredients for something, you gotta use them! 

 For dessert and lunches, I thought I'd make brownies using a recipe from one of Ruth Reich's books. I took several photos, but alas..they didn't turn out well. I don't think the brownies did what they were supposed to, either. However, the verdict from Jon was brownies should be all gooey and Steve said they were good. This recipe came from her book 'Tender at the Bone.' (I wonder if I should have taken a photo and posted it.......thankfully, the picture is a bit fuzzy!)

Simple Snacks from a Biscuit Mix

I mentioned this one in FB. Super salty and super easy. They are called (I believe) Roll Ups or Spam Pinwheels. It is a recipe from around the 70's or so. 

  They were fairly simple to create. You need 1 can of spam, minced (next time I will use the low sodium stuff); 2 1/4 cups Bisquick (or other biscuit mix); 2/3 a cup of milk; and about 3/4 cup of shredded cheese. Combine the Bisquick and milk to make a soft dough. Roll out into a large rectangle. Spread minced spam and cheese on dough and roll long way into a jelly roll. Cut about 3/4 of an inch thick and place on parchment paper or lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 min. (many people also place them on the sheet, seam side down-I liked them this way, too)

  Then, there was this other recipe I found. It is even easier and uses sausage. I think making it with pork sausage instead of deer might make it stickier. I'll try that next time, but I had the deer sausage thawed out already.
  The second one is known as 'Sausage Balls' and has 3 ingredients. 1 pound ground pork sausage, 2 cups of biscuit baking mix, 1 pound shredded cheese. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sausage, flour mix, and cheese in a gallon sized plastic bag. Mix thoroughly. Form into small balls and place on parchment paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

They would make a good bite sized appetizer. My half recipe made 24 balls about the size of my cookie scoop.