Let's go to Mexico

OK, I told you I would get caught up on our New Food Night this week.  So this morning I am going to tell you about our menu a couple of weeks ago.  Be prepared for your mouth to salivate and your stomach to rumble!  It was Mexican Night.

We do love our Mexican food and here in Tulsa we have lots of Mexican restaurants to choose from not to mention that there are food trucks galore around here selling Mexican food.  We do still prepare our own too.

We went with Sizzling Fajitas!  And to go with them you will need some tortillas. Easy enough to buy at the store but Gary made his own this week.

They look like the real thing don't they?  Just a few simple ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, water and lard.  Yes- that's right Lard!  Don't tell our cardiologist - he probably wouldn't be happy.  I grew up with lard - we always had it in the house.  It's what we cooked with.  So you mix the dry ingredients together then just start working in the lard. Once it is all worked in add the water a little at a time until mixture is smooth.  Let the dough set for about an hour. Next you take small balls, about the size of a walnut, and roll them out.  Don't be afraid to roll them to thin - the thinner the better.  then cook on a hot grill. Once it is browned, flip it over and brown the other side. Store between towels to keep warm.

What are we going to put on our tortillas?  Well, I'm glad you asked that.

Doesn't that look good? It was scrumptious!!  Miss Annette made the filling for our chicken fajitas: chicken, onion, green peppers, red peppers!  My mouth is watering just looking at this picture and remembering how good it tasted!   It's important to wait until almost time to serve before you cook up the mixture.  We had some sour cream to add to your fajita if you wanted.

And you cannot have Mexican food without chips and queso.

Rick brought his queso dip and we each had our own individual bowls so we wouldn't have to worry about double dipping.  Ummm- Ummm  -- good stuff!  Yes, I ate the entire bowl of queso.  I love chips and queso.

How good does that plate of food look?  It was delicious.  Wish you would  have joined us.

Of course you have to have dessert.  Typically for Mexican you think of fried ice cream or sopaipilla but we went with chocolate.

This is just a boxed chocolate dessert. chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.  What else do you expect when Gary and dessert are paired together?

Look - we have an empty chair.  Guess that means that we have room for more at our table.  Let us know if you want to join us for one of our New Food Nights, we'd love to have you

Just Good Food

Well, I'm not sure why I'm having trouble keeping this current and most of you probably think that we have been starving since I have not posted anything about New Food Night for a couple of weeks or so.  To put your minds at ease - we are still eating - every week!  So I will start with this past weeks food and then try to get another blog in later this week on the previous weeks new food then try to stay on top of it better.

This week we decided to have tenderloins - just because they are so good!  Nothing new with that food but we decided that tenderloins are probably of German origin so Annette said she would bring a strudel.

If you did not grow up in the Midwest then you may not know what a tenderloin is but I gotta tell you - there is no better sandwich you can eat.  Trust me on this one.  Since we cannot get them here in Tulsa we make our own. So we usually have some in the freezer. We were all out so had to make up some more.  And any time we have tenderloins I always think of my brothers because they said that is one thing they also miss living back east in Michigan and Pennsylvania.  

Notice how big those tenderloins are?  That's how you know it's a real tenderloin. It's almost as big as the plate and definitely much, much bigger than the bun.  We make these by buying a loin of pork. We then slice it.  Each tenderloin is then pounded as flat as you can pound it. The thinner the better. Then coat the tenderloin in an egg wash to which a little bit of milk has been added. Next put it in cracker crumbs - just straight cracker crumbs as fine as you make then.  We usually do this in an assembly line and then put on a cookie sheet and let them freeze. After all are frozen you then package them as you please in freezer bags (two - four to a bag - your preference).  When ready to eat, get oil hot then fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve.  The only thing needed is mustard and sliced onions.  Man, I'm hungry for them again just writing about it!

Now we usually have french fries with our tenderloins but since it was new food night I decided to be adventurous and try something new.  I made Potatoes Galette.  You slice potatoes fairly thin but they do not have to be uniform in size. Since we tried leeks a few weeks ago we discovered we really liked them. So I sliced up some leeks and added to the potatoes along with some minced garlic. Drizzled some olive oil in and stirred this all up. I then arranged the potatoes in a baking dish (preferably a circular one). Just start layering them around and around until the bottom is covered. I then took a mixture of grated Parmesan cheese and Asiago cheese and sprinkled on top of the potatoes. I continued to alternate potatoes and cheese until all was used up. I also salted each layer of potatoes before adding the cheese.  Put in the oven and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.  The recipe said you can use whatever cheese you want so maybe next time I will try different cheeses because I do believe we will be trying this recipe again!  It was yummers!.

Remember that German theme? Here's the Cherry Cream Cheese Strudel Miss Annette made!  It was soooooo goooooddd!  She took a package of puff pastry and unrolled it. She then took cream cheese and mixed with some powdered sugar. This was spread in the center of the puff pastry and topped with cherry pie filling. She then folded the edges in and baked.  The leftover made for an excellent breakfast for me the next morning.  

Gary sure put a lot of whipped cream on Rick's strudel.  Rick said he hadn't seen anything wiggle like that in a loonng time.  

Rick also brought chocolate cake. Everyone knows that Gary does not believe it's dessert if it's not chocolate,

Probably a good thing that New Food Night is about the only time I eat desserts!  LOL

Food was good, company was excellent!  Don't know which we like the most - trying different foods or spending time with friends.  Either way we look forward to Tuesday nights.  

Boundaries

BOUNDARY: something that indicates bounds or limits; a limiting or bounding

 line.

We all have our boundaries for things.  How far we let people encroach on our lives and what extent we will share of ourselves.  They probably are not as obvious as the one above but the boundaries are still there. 

Have you ever stopped to think that those boundaries you are setting may be limiting to you?  Wait, what?  read that again.  The boundaries you are setting may be limiting to you.  Yes, I said that and yes, it applies to me too. (That may hurt to hear).  How many times have I let an opportunity pass me by because 'I don't do hot!"  Yes, being outside is very uncomfortable but that doesn't make the need any less important.  How often have I said 'I have to much to do" ?  Really, do I have all that much on my plate that I cannot take an extra hour a week to help out somewhere? And I am probably notorious for saying 'I'm just not sure I could do it". I could just as easily say "I've never done it before but I'm willing to try."

Now let me ask you this - did Jesus put any boundaries on his love for us?  I think not!  In John 13 we are told how Jesus washed the disciples feet. This was an act for servants to perform. The lowliest of all should be doing this act. What Jesus did here was set an example for us.  He crossed a boundary that had been set in place for thousands of years. 

Now think - what boundaries do we put on ourselves when it comes to serving?  Do we consider ourselves 'above' the service that we are going to perform?  How often do we say 'someone needs to do something about that' without realizing maybe we are the someone who needs to be doing something?  

It is so easy to see the need that may be there. Not always so easy to fill the need ourselves. We make excuses - thereby creating boundaries that will keep us from doing the serving. Our boundaries may take many forms:  I don't have the time.  If only it was on a different day.  Oh, I could NEVER do that! 

Let's cross the boundaries, tear them down. Let's cross the fence and do what needs to be done. No more thinking that someone else will do the job. If there is an act of service to be performed and it is scheduled for a Saturday that you already have a commitment, look for another day that you may be able to serve yourself in this same mission.  There are always babies needing to be rocked, held, loved in shelters.  There are always homeless needing to be fed, clothed, given God's word by action. There are always elderly needing assistance with housework, shopping, or just a visit.  There are always people in every aspect of your day who need to see God at work.  Will you be one of the ones who crosses the boundaries and serves?  

Fair Food

It's Fair Time!  It's the annual Tulsa State Fair!  This year it's billed as '11 Days of Awesome!' Yep, it lasts for 11 days. And we live not much more than a mile from the fair. Now if you live in this area, you are not exactly overly thrilled about 11 days of awesome. This means that for 11 days we cannot buy our groceries at the store we like to patronize - traffic is to intense.

Now when you think fair one of the first things you think of is Fair Food.  Nothing better than fair food - fried butter, fried Twinkies, fried snickers, anything fried. And the strangest thing advertised for this year was scorpion topped pizza.  Yep, that's right scorpion pizza!

Fair going on and we have new food night. Of course it has to be fair themed.

What's a fair without Corn Dogs?

These are Red Velvet Corn Dogs.

Look pretty nasty to me.  No, we did not have these.  We did have Corn Dogs though.

Don't these look better?  Yes, Gary made homemade corn dogs. He used Ree Drummond's recipe. Very easy , Krusteaz pancake mix, cornmeal, an egg and water.  Mix to desired consistency. Skewer those hot dogs, dip in batter and fry in hot oil (375 degrees).  Oh my gosh!!  These were good!  I am not usually a big fan of corn dogs but I really liked these.  They did not look as 'pretty' as what you would normally see but as Gary said 'that is what makes them rustic'.   Yummers!

Here's Miss Annette enjoying one of those rustic corn dogs.

We also had Frito Pies.  Nothing new here.  Just some Fritos in a bowl, top with chili, onions, and cheese.  No new recipe just something else to eat because we wanted to be sure we had enough to eat.

What's something else you always think of when you think fair food?  How about Caramel Apples?

Don't these look good? Well, they were!   Oh my!  Miss Annette melted the caramels, put sticks in the apples and dipped them. She then topped them with chopped peanuts.  Heaven!  She used Gala apples so they were juicy.  Just perfect!

Now one more have to have fair food.

That's right, I made homemade funnel cakes!  Made a batter of flour, salt, baking powder, eggs, sugar and milk to thin consistency. The batter needs to be put in a container that you can pour out of.  The recipe said to use a funnel but we used a plastic bottle. Drizzle the batter in hot oil and cook until brown, turn over and cook another minute then put on paper towels.  Top with powdered sugar,

Now it is important to make sure you top with POWDERED SUGAR. Be extra careful because the container of flour can look just like powdered sugar. And guests are much to polite to tell you they don't taste quite right. They just decline more powdered sugar for their funnel cake.  Now let me also be clear that I was not the one to sprinkle flour on the funnel cakes. That was Gary - who was helping me out as I fried the funnel cakes.  Fortunately, we had enough batter that the first three topped with flour could be pitched in the trash and new ones made.  Gary ate the third one and that was when he realized what he had done.

Once they were topped with the right white topping they tasted wonderful.

Now, I bet you wish you had joined us this week, don't you?  Stay tuned for more new food night.

Another Birthday Dinner

I know I'm a little late getting this posted but we did have New Food Night this past week.  September is a good month for birthdays, And we believe that when it's your birthday you get to choose what you have for dinner.  This past Tuesday was Miss Annette's birthday and she was able to choose what we would have.  This proved to be a difficult decision for her.

Originally she was thinking pasta because, like me, she loves pasta.  Then Gary reminded her how much she likes meatloaf. Now you may be thinking what's the big deal?  The thing is - Miss Annette lives alone and it's hard to make meatloaf for one person. Meatloaf is one of those things that by the time you add everything to it you have a good sized meatloaf - more than one person can eat.  So she choose meatloaf but gave Gary instructions - "not to mess with it".  In other words - she doesn't get meatloaf very often she doesn't want to try a new one.

How good does this look?  Meatloaf!   Take some hamburger, add in chopped onions, couple of eggs, bread, ketchup, salt and pepper.  Mix this all together and pat into a loaf pan.  Cover the top with ketchup and bake for approximately 45 minutes to an hour.  You can also put the mixture in muffin cups or individual loaf pans.  Then everyone can have their own little mini meatloaf.

Now we did not have a very complex meal this time but we did have to try something new.  Gary decided to have both Miss Annette's favorites - meatloaf and pasta!

He made macaroni and cheese!  But he mixed it up and this was a new recipe.  He boiled the macaroni to extreme firm.  He made a roux of butter and flour and then added milk, dry mustard, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, - cook until thickened.  He took a small of the mixture and tempered a beaten egg in.  He stirred this into the mixture and then added lots of cheddar cheese.  He then stirred the macaroni into the sauce mixture and then poured into a baking dish. Cover with Panko bread crumbs and more cheese.  Bake until done.

For dessert we had Pots De Creme - same recipe we used the other time we had this.  Simple meal but exactly what the birthday lady wanted.

Now just wait until next week!  We have a truly unique meal planned and it has a special theme designed just for Tulsa.  Until then - go ahead and drool.

Birthday Pasta

Tonight was new food night.  Tonight was also my birthday night!  So I got to choose the menu for tonight.  Of course I went with my favorite - PASTA!!!  

Now, it could not be just any pasta - it had to be something new. So Gary found three new recipes for pasta and let me choose.  I went with Pancetta and Leek Pasta  --

Gary gathered up all the ingredients and made this scrumptious pasta. We had never used leeks before  - they tasted a little bit like a mild green onion. As you can see the sauce is full of delicious good for you items like butter, heavy cream, white wine, Parmesan cheese.  He cooked up the pancetta then added leeks and butter and let this cook down for about 8 minutes.  He then added wine and reduced this down then added cream and shaved in a block of Parmesan cheese.  Tossed in the pasta and it was ready for us to chow down on.

Miss Annette made a salad to go along with the pasta. This was just a plain salad with some
Greek olives, onions, pepper rings and topped with Pesto croutons and a simple vinaigrette dressing.

Mr. Rick brought some garlic bread to top off the meal.

Now this is a birthday meal that I cannot wait to eat.

And wasn't it nice of Rick to dress up in a bow tie for the meal?

My favorite dessert - German Chocolate cake.

And Gary thought he would be smart and switch the numbers  LOL -- that's ok -- I probably wont' be around for the 75th so we can celebrate both of them tonight.  Since I'm celebrating two birthday years this must mean I get two pieces of cake, right?

I put some fall decorations on the table (probably should pull the rest of them out of the attic),  Now be honest, how many of you wish that you were here to share new food night with us?   Stay tuned because next week is another birthday week meal.  

Cruising Alaska

We are back from vacation!  If you are my friend on Facebook - I will get pictures posted.  There are just so many and I am trying to get them organized - kinda sorta.  But I promise - they are coming and they are amazing!

We had a wonderful vacation!  We did an Alaska cruise with Gary's parents, his sister and her husband and some friends of ours here in town.  We met Gary's parents in Kansas City and flew with them to Chicago and on to Seattle.  Now while, traveling my phone was on silent and part of the time on airplane mode.  In Chicago as we are going from one gate to the next I turned my phone on and then glanced at messages.  The message I see is from my oldest daughter saying "your silence is kind of disturbing".  I promptly wonder what I have missed so start scrolling through her messages.  No wonder she found my silence disturbing; she had texted me that she had gotten engaged!   I promptly responded with my congratulations and also informed her that information like that shouldn't be shared while I am traveling.  (In case you are wondering - we are happy for her and her finance'.  He is a wonderful person and we already consider him family.)

So we finally make it to our cruise ship and everyone is on board (well most of us - Gary's sister and brother-in-law hadn't made it on board yet. They were behind us in line as they had to turn in the rental vehicle.) Gary's mom had arranged for a scooter for the duration of the cruise; this proved to be amusing for all of us.  Picture the mandatory life boat drill.  Picture the doorway having a large threshold to be maneuvered across.  Instructions for the scooter said not to hesitate or you will end up stuck - just gun it. Vicki gunned it. We are outside at our muster station. We hear screams, hollers and laughter and turn around to see Vicki popping a wheelie coming through the door frame!  At least she didn't get stuck!  And that was just the beginning of the fun for our trip.

If you have ever cruised you know that there is pretty much unlimited food and an open buffet all day long.  We tended to eat our evening meal in the dining room but would meet for breakfast every morning on the back deck of the ship.  Picture us sitting on deck enjoying our breakfast. Gary's dad, Red, puts what he thinks is ham in his mouth.  He starts choking, coughing, sputtering, gagging. He finally manages to swallow the bite only to say 'I have put some bad things in my mouth but nothing as bad as that!' It wasn't ham - it was raw salmon!

And oh how that food on the buffet can be misleading.  Afternoon snack because - well it's afternoon - we haven't eaten for a couple of hours and there are still a couple of hours until we meet for dinner. Let's have a snack.  Red takes a big piece of what he thinks is custard pie.  What a surprise for his mouth when he bit into it to find out he was eating quiche.  He said it wasn't to bad just not what he was expecting.

And one more food laughter from the cruise. Every evening our waiter would give us our menus then tell us what the specialty was for the evening. Keep in mind the waiters are all from other countries and speak with accents.  One evening he says 'and the chef's specialty this evening is duck confit'. What Red heard was 'duck feet'.  He wanted to know why anyone would want to eat duck feet. Also, what did they do with the rest of the duck?  No one ordered the 'duck feet' but our waiter was kind enough to bring us an entree' for our table to share and try.

Back to Vicki's scooter. She had quite the time with it. Backing out of elevators could be a challenge. We learned to warn her that people were standing outside the elevator so she wouldn't run into them.  She lost the bumper on her scooter more than once. Fortunately, it just velcroed back on. And there was one time when we were going through the Sports Bar. She zooms through the door and chooses to go left.  Now the path between the tables there was not very wide. She had lost her bumper going through the door. I stooped to pick up the bumper and as I raise up I see that her scooter has caught the edge of the first table and she is starting to drag the table along behind her. The people at the table are trying to hold the table back.  After being advised to stop we righted the table and people moved out of the way so we could proceed on through.

Also, the spa is a place of luxury onboard a cruise ship. Pamper yourself.  And yes, you usually do 'get naked' for a full body massage.  Let's say that four of the eight of us took advantage of the spa at some point on the cruise. We all enjoyed it.

Yes, it was a vacation full of fun, family, friends and laughter. We saw amazing sights of whales, glaciers, and waterfalls. It was truly an experience I'm glad we were all able to enjoy together.  So keep watching for my pictures.  I promise to have them up by this weekend.