Celebrating A Friend's birthday with a special meal.

                         ~Taking The Time~ to celebrate a Special Friend's Birthday at my home.

 

                   
Bonnie and I have known each other since Junior High.  We found out about 20 plus years ago that we lived on the roads behind each other. We have become very close through the years. Being there for each other during hard times, family times and just being true great friends.!  I was so busy making the meal this morning, that I did not put lipstick on, guess I needed that glass of wine to give me some color. And I was a little tired, trying to get everything ready by 12pm! 

We usually go out to eat at a restaurant on our birthdays. But this year I decided to have her here and make a homemade meal for her.  It has been quite cool outside now that Fall has arrived. So figured I would make a hot meal, have a fire on and stay cozy.  Plus a glass of red wine, helped with the coldness. :-)

                
We usually give each other a small "Thinking of you " gift. The mums on the table are one of her gifts.  I also gave her a Friendship candle holder.

                   
I wrote something on this package about having childhood memories of long ago. She is smiling as she is reading it so that is a plus .  

                                                                                          
   The gift was Magnetic Paper Dolls!!  Something we played with long ago before Barbies and American Girl Dolls!  She was so excited with this gift. A step back in time of happy memories is always good.  I had found these in a catalog and thought I would get them for her. I had also ordered a few more to give to some other senior friends. She wanted to play with the Magnetic Dolls right away. But after cooking all morning, I was hungry. So we decided to put it on hold and ~Take the Time~ another day.! :-)

I decided to make a hot meal for the type of day that it was. So I found a recipe in the new Southern Living Magazine that I had just received in the mail.  The menu I choose to make was:  Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings served with Strawberry Salad.

I started some of the preparations the night before to save me time in the morning. Everything would be going into the crockpot. It took some time to cut up the vegetables, I have a new Food Processor on my counter that would  have been so much easier to use. Instead I did the old fashion way of hand slicing every thing.

                                           Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings
                                                           (makes 8 servings)
                                                           Ingredients
Chicken

3 skinned, bone -in chicken breasts ( about 1 1/2 lbs.)
6 skinned and boned chicken thighs (about 1 lb.)
1 tsp. salt.
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning

 

                                                                     
2 cans (103/4-oz.) cans cream of chicken soup
1 (32-oz) container chicken broth

1/2 lb. carrots sliced

1/2 lb. Parsnips sliced

 4 celery ribs sliced
1 sweet  onion chopped

                                                                                         

1. Prepare Chicken:
Rub chicken pieces with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Place breasts in a 6-qt. slow cooker; top with thighs.  Add carrots and next 3 ingredients.  Whisk together soup and broth until smooth. Pour soup mixture over vegetables.  Cover and cook on High 3 1/2 hours or until chicken shreds easily with a fork.  Bone and shred chicken.  Stir chicken into soup-and -vegetable mixture.  Cover and cook on High 1 hour or until boiling.

2. Cornbread Dumplings

                                      

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flower
1/2 cup self-rising yellow cornmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. butter, melted

                              

       
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
2 tsp.chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2. Meanwhile:
Prepare Dumplings. Whisk together flour and next 3 ingredients.  Make a well in center of mixture  add milk , butter, thyme, and parsley to dry ingredients., gently stirring just until moistened.

3. Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls into simmering chicken mixture, leaving about 1/4 inch space between dumplings.  Cover and cook on High 30 to 35 minutes or until dumplings have doubled in size. 

                                    

Than I made a Strawberry Salad to serve with the hot meal.  This also was in the Southern Living magazine.

                                                                Strawberry Salad

Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) package fresh baby spinach
2 cups  quartered strawberries
1 1/4 cups crumbled feta cheese.
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup bottled vinaigrette
1/4 cup sliced toasted almonds. ( I used walnuts)
Makes 8 servings.

                                  
Toss all ingredients together and chill until ready to use.                                  

We really enjoyed both dishes. Bonnie went home with a copy of both recipes.  They are both something I would make again.
    

  
I have this tendency to make some type of new recipe when  we have company. Never trying it before the company comes. I have been fortunate to have made the right  choices .  Hope I can keep doing that. I am sure there will come a day when my experiments will not tickle someone's fancy. 

Now the dessert. This is my own recipe of putting some ingredients together. Started off by making a 3-2-1 cake.  This recipe was given to me by another school friend. It is so simple and just love making it. 

                                                                    3-2-1- Cake
All you need is a box of Angel Food cake mix and another box of any other flavor that you like. Mix the two boxes of mix in a large plastic sealer bag.
A coffee cup, perferably one with a wider base.
1 Tablespoon

                                                                    

You take out 3 tablespoons of the mixed cake mix. Put it in your coffee cup.  Add 2 tablespoons of water.  Mix together and put in the microwave for 1 minute.  Give a few minutes to cool. Than take out of cup.  Than you can use it for however you wish.  Some just like it with a cup of tea or coffee and not add anything to it.  It is a great idea for children to make their own miniature cake. It is so simple and who would have thought this would work.

Anyhow, the two mixes I made were Angel Food and Spice Cake mix.  I had some apples, so I chopped them up real small, added some cinnamon and cooked them until slightly soft.

 

     Took individual vanilla pudding cups to use in the parfait dessert I was going to make with the spice cake and cooked apples.     I put one of the small cakes on the bottom of the dessert dish. Than put some of the cooked chopped apples on top of the cake.  Next used half a cup of the pudding. Than did another layer in the same order.

                                                                                       
And this is the dessert I came up with.  We had it later with a cup of coffee.

The day turned out well. And even though it was a cold cloudy day, we had the warmth of our lunch and our friendship to share.

Hope everyone has a good week. And  ~Take
The Time~ to share a special occasion with a dear friend.
Whether it be an old friend or a new friend.  "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold."

 

                                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoying some special moments.

Things have been busy around here and I have not been blogging for a while. After having some major dental work done about a month and a half ago, I wound up with Bronchitis two days after the dental surgery. I did not respond to treatment at home so I had to go into the hospital for 3 days. Came home on my birthday. But could not celebrate as it took a long time to recover.

So this past weekend my husband and I went to visit our daughter Jill (at Blessings of a Stay at Home Mom) and her beautiful family.  They wanted to celebrate my belated birthday and my husband's that was this Monday.

They always plan so many neat things to do when we or anyone else visits them .  This weekend was no exception.

 
We found a cute roadside stand filled with the Fall vegetables and fruits. They had it set up in a pretty display.

Our granddaughters Hayley and Kathleen were loving looking around at everything.  Our little Kathleen could have been one of the pumpkins that grew there with her beautiful hair coloring.  

           
Hayley loved the shape of this pumpkin and wanted to buy it.    Wonder how she will crave this one.?

Kathleen wandered around for a while looking for the right one for her. Notice her leg warmers. This is her own style.

After we left the Pumpkin stand they took us out to a wonderful restaurant that was not far from the pumpkin stand.   The name of the restaurant is the Yellow House and Jill has some information on her blog about it.

  
I believe the Inn/restaurant was built in the 1800's.  A lot of neat woodwork, the deep window sills and wood flooring were all the same as back than.

 

 

  
We had great meals and we all enjoyed the day and evening together.  Jill and Jerry are the host and hostess with the mostest!

We went back to their home and they had a cake for both my husband and I. And as you can tell it was chocolate and you can tell who really enjoyed the cake!!

When we first arrived at their home, Kathleen could not wait to show us her big toothless smile! She had lost a couple of teeth that week. For a couple of days she went to the school nurse as the teeth came out. The nurse gave her a pink treasure box each time for her to put her  tooth in, so she could safely get it home for the
Tooth Fairy that night.   She sure kept  that Tooth Fairy busy!!

We were thinking she kinda looks like a smiling Jack-o-Lantern with her hair and smile.

 

We had to head home on Monday drawing our visit shorter than we wanted. But I have a group of ladies that meet at our home twice a month on Tuesdays. So I had to get back for that.   But we  will be going up again in a few weeks. And hopefully staying longer.

 

We got back on Monday night and I went right in and set the table for my Ladies . We have been getting together for over 12 years now. We lost one of our dear friends a few months ago. She had been very sick and went to be with our Lord.They are all special friends and neighbors. I love them all. They are all amazing and keep very active. They range in age 66 to 86!

Since my husband being the wonderful man that he is in helping me to get ready every time they come, the ladies wanted to celebrate his birthday with a  cake. The reason for the smiles is ...my friend Bonnie brought the candles for the cake, but only had a nine and a 8. So she turned the 9 upside down to make a 6. Helen was laughing because she was wondering how we could light the upside down nine without a wick!!  We just lit the 8.

It was a very busy weekend for us. But it was so worth it.  And I was so happy to be feeling so much better to be able to enjoy this time with family and friends.


Hope  you can all ~Take the Time~ to find a special way to put a smile on your face. :-)

~Taking the Time~ to share the Beauty of Fall.

Awww... the beauty of the Fall!  What wonders of color we see as we round the bend on a tree lined road with Fall colors.

Even the fields of  end of the season corn stalks stand out on their own in contrast to the other colors.

The Hay Bales lying in the fields awaiting the right time for the Farmers to come and use them for their cattle, have different shapes that are interesting to look at.

The fields are alive with color. They are being prepared for the winter crops.

A glance at what we see from our front yard. So many colors to enjoy.

 

Our back yard  also sports many Fall colors . So pretty looking out over the back deck. The colors change from day to day. Slowly the leaves are starting to fall to the ground. It will be sad when they are all gone and everything will turn brown.

Often wonder if we had the beauty of the Fall all year round if we would ever tire of all the colors, day after day.

A planter of Sedum has turned a pretty pink. So pretty to look at.

Every year we feed the birds. But when sitting in the chair the feeders have been too low to see the activity at the feeders. We can see the birds zooming down to it  but could not see them below the window. So I asked my husband if he had some left over wood to make a stand high enough that we could see the birds at the feeders.  And this is what he came up with.!  Just perfect!  The only thing is he has to climb a ladder to fill the feeders. Hope that will be possible when the snow comes.  We also have a ground feeder for the birds that like to eat from them. Of course the little chipmunks like that. One day a large Blue Jay was feeding from the ground feeder. The chipmunk had been on it, when the Blue Jay came the little guy ran under the feeder and stayed there until the Blue Jay left.
It was funny.  He did that a few times, and the last time we looked both Jay and Chipmunk were on the feeder. Guess Chip didn't want to be the one to leave his spot. :-)

Hope you have enjoyed some of  the beauty of what we love about the Fall where we live.

We enjoy each day as it does not last long. Soon the cold winds and heavy rains and snows will take away all the brightness and make way for another season.

Hope everyone has a good week. ~Take the Time~ to look around even the littlest leaf has it's own beauty.

Eileen's One Pot Veggie Mash..........

Did you ever have dental work that requires no eating anything but soft foods for about a week or so  or how ever long it takes for the jaw to heal?  Well, last Thursday was the reason for me trying to figure out what to make that was soft to eat, and still be good for me.  I had a tooth pulled and than a partial bridge put in.  They told me it would take about 6 months for the socket in the jaw to heal.  The next day I was ready for it to be healed that day!!!! The first couple of days, the yogurt and pudding held me over. Maybe some cottage cheese, cream of wheat, soft bread.  Oh,,,,, I couldn't drink anything hot either. So there went my hot tea or coffee in the morning. Besides the tooth pain, I had the pain of not eating some comfort food.

Got to thinking what could I make that would be healthy yet easy to chew or gum it.  I came up with a plan.  Went into the refrigerator and saw all these fresh fruits and vegetables that I had just gotten in the beginning of the week.  Cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, etc. etc. But they were all hard and would be impossible for me to eat.

 

 

                                                                               
Pulled some potatoes out of my potato basket. I can always find something to do with potatoes.

Next a couple of carrots. Also got the potato peeler and sharp knife out, while I was near the drawer.

A small head of broccoli looked pretty good and add some coloring.

 

Found some of the frozen shredded zucchini in the freezer from the summer. More green color.

 

 

 

An onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Always a staple in my home.

And last but not least, Some chicken broth.

Okay have all the ingredients so what can I make with them that would be easy for me to eat and also be something my husband would eat.

After giving it some thought and some chopping of the vegetables, I came up with an idea.!  I will call it "Eileen's One Pot Veggie Mash"!!! Good for what ails you!!

I put all the ingredients in the pot and cooked them until soft.  Than mashed them with a potato masher to make it easier for me to eat.

I cooked everything in one pot, which saved tons of pots and pans. And enough veggie mash to last for a couple of meals. And I did not feel slighted that I had to eat soft foods for a while yet.

Wanted to do something different for lunch today with the leftovers. So put the mash in a baking dish, sprayed with Pam.

 

Tooks some Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese out of the freezer.

And sprinkled it on top of the casserole.

Spread it on the top so that it would cover the whole dish.

Baked it in the oven on 350 degrees for about 40-45 mins. until the cheese was bubbly and the mash heated through.

 

Another good dish, fixed a little different with the left overs. I was thinking , bacon bits would go good on top. But remember I am trying to keep it soft!!

Was so glad how this turned out using all vegetables and something good and soft  to eat.  This may be an idea for you if you or someone else in your family has to be on a soft diet. Maybe putting what vegetables you like and cook them together. It could be put in a food processor for a baby or an older person. Making it without the texture of just the cooked vegetables.

Wanted to add some fruit to the meal. Again, how to fix it so I could eat it. So I cut up the apples and pears and put them in a glass bowl.

 

Added a couple of pinches of nutmeg and cinnamon and vanilla extract. Also a little bit of water.
Covered the dish  with wax paper and put it in the microwave for about 35-40 minutes on high.

When they were cooked to the softness I wanted. I took them out of the microwave and mashed them a little . Almost like an apple sauce.

Well, got through a couple of meals anyhow. Now what to fix the rest of the upcoming weeks?

Seems like different health issues can throw a curve in your life with every day things. We just have to sit and ponder what can we do with what we   have in order to survive the ordeals!!  :-)

Hope everyone has a good upcoming week. And hope this recipe that I made up can help you in some way in the future.

                                                                             hugs, Eileen