A Belated St Patrick's Day Supper

Being that I had to work all day yesterday, we are having our annual St Patrick's Day for German/Czechoslovakian/French people tonight.  I have been making this crockpot Corned Beef supper for quite a few years now since finding it in a Taste of Home magazine.  I've even taken it to work a few years and people brought side items for a celebration luncheon there.  Some people make Reuben's and others eat the items they like for a meal.  I really like making it this way..the sauce mixture you put on seems to mellow out the corned beef a little.  I'll be adding a picture tonight when it's finished cooking, but for now I've scanned in the recipe to share..this recipe is for two people per the author, but I usually at least double it or triple it..here goes..(it's great!)

Egg Rolls for the freezer

Joe has been after me for a while to make up some of my "Czechoslovakian" (meaning my version) of eggrolls, so I told him he had to help me fry them because making giant batches of them makes my back sore now that I am old!  He was willing, so today we made up 50 or so of them.  Of course, I forgot to make the step by step photos like I had planned to do next time I made them, so this will only be a picture and NEXT time I make them I definitely will post a recipe of sorts and the steps..my daughter Kim wrote down the ingredients from watching me some time in the past, so I could get that from her also..I just dump in the seasonings until it "smells" right to me, but hers taste like mine, so it's pretty accurate.  Anyway, until the photos etc come, here is a picture of my taste test sample...I froze packets of 6 each for when I make oriental food for dinner, because my eggrolls are our favorite!

Work in Progress/Obsession

Sorry I haven't been on here as much lately, but I am obsessed with my crochet project, Sophie's Universe..it is so fun to do the weekly "CAL" (crochet a long) posts.  I am way way behind the rest of the people making it and with working full time 4 days a week, I will never catch up, but the owner of the site is going to keep it up forever I hear and I will keep plugging along because I love the finished product and am learning a lot besides.  Many of the stitches I have never done before and they have a video tutorial to guide me through each round-ideal!  Anyway, between laundry, housework and very little cooking today I am working as hard as I can on it..(fun working hard)..more to come as the weeks go by..

 

I just wasn't happy with my center and the tan I used, so I did plastic surgery on my Sophie this weekend.  made a new center and removed the old one and attached the new one.  I am much happier with it now..the tan was an ugly tan and a scratchy yarn and it just jumped out at me..here is the new sophie..before I wove in the strings from her surgery and added some rows to her this weekend.

 

 

Gaile's Gumbo

GAILE'S VERSION OF GUMBO:
Prep work:
3 chicken breasts, dice in cubes or thin bite sized strips
1 pkg of medium pre-cooked/deveined shrimp with tails removed
1 medium yellow onion-thinly sliced and then rings halved.
1 yellow or green pepper with seeds removed, sliced thinly
2 stalk celery sliced thin
(optional: 1 smaller zucchini sliced in half and cut in slices)
half a bag of frozen broccoli pieces-I prefer just the heads
3 garlic cloves cleaned and chopped

also need:
3 teaspoons chicken base
1-1/2 cups regular V8 juice
1 quart canned tomatoes or 1 large can whole peeled tomatoes (I remove any hard spots and crush with my hands into pan to break them up)
salt/pepper
1/4 tsp crushed thyme leaves
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves.
tabasco sauce to taste (I just use a little)

Heat wok or large skillet, spray generously with Pam spray and brown chicken (salt and pepper) on both sides until done...remove from pan onto a large plate..then repeat with the shrimp.  (browning them a little gives it more flavor), add to chicken on the  plate.  Scrape pan and respray with the Pam.  Add all the veggies and garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and stir fry them until softened and onions are carmelized somewhat.  Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for 15 minutes.  serve with a mound of rice in the center and gumbo around it, or eat with crusty bread and butter..