Kitchen Help

Awwww......Ain't he sweet!

Once in a while my kitchen help shows up, especially when he has enjoyed a meal. He thinks this one was a lot of trouble for me. It wasn't! (Don't tell!)

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I first thawed out a 32 oz. container of frozen turkey broth that our daughter made and gave to us. I then turned the heat  to very low under the large 5 cup kettle and added 3 cups of elicoidali pasta. This is a medium sized tube pasta similar to rigatoni. The pasta simmered for several hours until all of the turkey broth was absorbed. 

I then added half a bag of frozen chopped green peppers and onions, along with a can of drained black beans, and a small jar of Prego Chunky Garden Combo Sauce. This simmered for about 2 hours and I then added half a bag of pre-cooked Jimmy Dean Hearty Turkey Sausage Crumbles. The kettle was really full!

It was all then poured into a foil-lined baking dish and I covered the top with shredded Mozzarella cheese and baked it for an hour at 350°.

Not hard at all to make and there is enough left over for two more meals! It was very tasty!

Starting Off with A Baking Project

This time it is not cookies, not cupcakes, not pies, not cakes....it's our main course. I haven't made baked stuffed shells in ages.  I had forgotten how much time and effort it takes to prepare these. It's not a sit-down project, either.  They were awesome, and I'll try to find some already prepared and stuffed before having this dish again. 

Shells cooked and draining

Stuffing and sauce ready 

Stuffed and ready to bake

Baked and ready to eat

And they were excellent but too many for only two people!

The Bald Eagle Visits

Sometimes two fly together high over the lake. Quite often we see only one sailing over the lake from a distant stand of trees to another. Last year we saw one on the dam shoreline rocks tearing a fish apart. This winter we saw one savaging a goose that was stuck in the ice. Today it was on the grassy bank eating "something." From my front porch chair I took pictures of the hungry bird feasting. On what this time? It departed once when there was a loud noise, probably a firecracker left over from last week.  It returned right away back to the same spot on the bank. It finally took leave and didn't return when a rowboat filled with fishermen came down the lake toward the shore. The Mister hopped in his truck and went to see what the meal was. There was a large carcass all stripped out with only feathers remaining. It was a goose. He saw its feet. Eagle dinner was over. An hour later it flew over again, dipped down quickly, and flew away. We think it was fishing but we couldn't see for sure because it happened so suddenly and it soared away fast. What a wing span!

Distance from my porch seat

Closer

Closer

Closer

Closer

Closer

Early evening it was spotted AGAIN - high up in the dying Basswood on our lakefront beach. I dashed outside and got a pretty good picture. (Burned the pizza that was in the oven too!) What a day! A mature bald eagle lives here and we are very lucky and enjoy our sightings.

What are you looking at?

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Nourishment

I sure do get "way out there" on tangents when I'm here in my little nook! At first I was going to tell you about a meal I prepared for us last night. Then, I became overly interested in one of the older kitchen tools I used to put the meal together. Then I became curious about what the meanings of vintage and retro items could be. Then I took photos. Then......then......then!!!!

So, finally here it is - my little story of a supper. Do you remember that I chopped and saved some ham a couple of days ago? Being full of creative and crazy ideas, I covered the bottom of my Lodge 12 inch cast iron fry pan with much ham. I had some already-cooked baby leaf spinach on hand, so on the top of the ham it went. After scouting for something else to use, I decided on three slices of premium American cheese, and broke it up over all. A glass lid went on and it cooked for a while. Now, I don't ever measure when I cook, just a dib and a dab is my style. I go by instinct when I think a preparation as this is ready for additional enhancements. It was steaming away. Time.

Eggs! I have plenty of those. How to use eggs? Well, Geraldine, get out the old egg beater. I've had it for about 60 years, and it is often forgotten, residing in the back of the utensil dawer and buried under other old things.

I beat six eggs with water - yes, water-not milk, to become a big bowl of frothy bubbles. (Milk makes eggs tough, water makes them tender, in my opinion.) It was poured on top of the hot ham, spinach and cheese and the lid returned for it to steam cook. It puffed up beautifully and even I was surprised. WOW! was it ever delicious!

When washing the egg beater I noticed that it was an Ekco BEST with stainless steel beaters and MADE IN U.S.A.

This prompted me to take my pictures, and hop on over to the computer to research it. I found images of over 800 old egg beaters and several were exactly like mine. The one I have was listed with descriptions on eBay as vintage and retro. Exactly WHAT time period are they? Here's what I learned:

"The word vintage comes to us from wineries and includes quality in its definition "characterized by excellence, maturity, and enduring appeal" so while an antique could be anything that was particularly old (and, one would assume, saleable) items that were vintage would be presumed to be of high quality."

A "vintage retro" item most likely is one from the years of 1920 - 1960.

Am I boring you? Well I found it interesting.

Clam Pasta

For all food lovers who are on a very limited grocery budget, I would like to share one of my creative experiments that was successful - as far as we are concerned.

Is taste and enjoyment of a meal ruled by constrictions of a sparcely stocked cupboard? Is a meal hindered and constrained by meager supplies? NO! Is the cook restricted to no exploration or inventiveness? NO!

A two-serving meal or three-servings if appetites were moderate, was enjoyed by this couple last evening.

Ingredients were as follows:

1/2 of 1 pound box of Ronzoni Trio Italiano Pasta

($1.00 on sale**Used 1/2 so 50¢!) reg. $1.49

Two 6.5 oz. cans of Snows (by Bumblebee) minced clams in juice

($1.00 ea. on sale) reg. $1.83 ea.

One 15 oz. can of Progresso white clam sauce

($1.19 on sale) reg. $1.79

Method used:

Empty the 2 cans of minced clams, including juice, and the one can of white clam sauce into a teflon pot. Heat very slowly and when it is steaming, add the uncooked pasta. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed and the pasta is ready. (About 15 minutes, as I remember.)

Serve in large pre-heated (in microwave oven) soup or spaghetti bowls. Top with grated Parmesan/Romano cheese.

There is enough left over for today's lunch.

Total cost: $3.69 Thanks to ShurSave Gold Card

and Tuesday Senior Shopping day!

Don't ask me "Where's the salad?"

Our vegetable intake is just fine.