Crocheted Beach Bag for my Director at work who is retiring

I try to make a handmade gift for people when they are retiring from our department at work.  I started out wanting to make this super cool crocheted Tree of Life pillow in a hot pink but messed up the pattern toward the bottom and decided it was something to make when I felt no pressure and time restraints and that was definitely not the time!  Then I happened to come across a blog post for this beach bag and immediately fell in love with it.  I liked the design and colors a lot and felt it would fit her perfectly since it's her taste I am sure, and she will be spending time in Florida in the winters going forward.  I started it a month ago, right before we took a 2 week vacation with our camper out west, so it's been worked on in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana along with Minnesota.  It took a lot more hours than I thought, but I like the result.  I also got her a white monogrammed beach towel in Navy writing to match and a bottle of her favorite wine to tuck in..hoping she'll like it, I do!  The pattern was on the Little Monkey's Crochet blog and there is also a child sized one that she used aqua and white and gray in..it's adorable. 

Taco filled Pasta Shells

Today I was thinking about what to make for dinner with some hamburger I had thawed out and needed to use.  Somewhere in the mental list of things I could make, I remembered these taco shells.  I thought at some point I had made them and posted them, so I looked for the recipe, and lo and behold it appears I never posted it, so must have been a while since I made them.  They are great for a meal with a salad, or even just a side veggie of Mexican style corn, or both!  It was in an old Taste of Home Magazine as a make one, freeze one style dish, but when I used to make it I'd make the whole thing up because some of the family really liked it and wanted it.  Now it's basically just a few of us, so I make the recipe in half.  it makes about 12-14 shells, so plenty to even have for leftovers around here.

Here's the process:

TACO FILLED PASTA SHELLS: can easily double for a crowd.

1 pound ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning
4 ounces cream cheese cubed
12-14 jumbo pasta shells, cooked according to package, drained and a little butter mixed in to prevent sticking.
1 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack or Mozzarella cheese
1-1/2 cups crushed tortilla chips (I substitute nacho doritos a lot)
1 cup sour cream
3 green onions, chopped.

In a skillet, cook hamburger until no longer pink (season a little with salt and pepper).  Drain is needed.  Add taco seasoning and prepare as directed on package.  Add cream cheese and stir until incorporated into hamburger mix.  Set aside to cool a little to handle easily.  Stuff each cooked shell with about a Tablespoon of meat mixture and put in a baking dish that has the salsa added to the bottom.  When finished stuffing all the shells, sprinkle the taco sauce over the top, cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Then uncover and sprinkle with the crushed chips and cheeses and return to oven for about 15 more minutes or until melted and heated through.  Serve with chopped onions and sour cream.

Apple Dumplings

When I was in a meeting at work yesterday for some reason we started talking about apple dumplings.  It is the season after all, but I was amazed at how many people (the majority) had never heard or tasted them!  It really goes to show how old I am compared to them I guess!  Anyway, when I was young, later teens and 20's, I used to make these quite often because my dad and husband really liked them with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream slowly melting over the warm dumplings.  Me too, of course.  Anyway, the recipe was from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook from that 70's era..I think it was my first official cookbook, that I still have, but is in sad shape after 45 or so years of use.  I has a lot of good recipes in it that I still use actually.  Anyway, the page for the dumplings was ripped out from wear, and I knew that I had rescued it and put it in a "safe" place, and after searching in all the most logical places I finally found it and am going to post it on here along with a picture of the finished product once I make it to bring in to work to educate these kids on good apple desserts!  Next time I won't have to dig forever either!

APPLE DUMPLINGS:
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (the recipe calls for 1/4, but I am not a big nutmeg fan)
8 drops red food coloring
3 Tablespoons butter

2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups Crisco
1/2 cup milk

6 medium, whole apples, pared and cored:  I like Haralson apples the best, but any pie apples work.  (I actually slice the apples because I don't care for whole apples baked- in this case you need 1/2 apple sliced for each dumpling..I like the sugar more distributed throughout and I like apples fully baked and not hard at all, but it's up to you and your taste which you do)

extra sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling the apples before wrapping (just an fyi-the sauce is sweet on this, so I sprinkle them, but don't overdo it so it's sickeningly sweet)

FOR SYRUP: mix first 5 ingredients; bring to boiling to dissolve sugar.  Remove from heat; add butter and stir. Set aside.

CRUST: (just an fyi, if you are scared to make this, just make your own pie crust version or buy some premade crusts.  it all works out fine).  I use my crust that is posted on my blog, but at first I used this and it's good.
Sift together dry ingredients; cut in shortening till mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add milk all at once; stir just till flour is moistened.  On lightly floured surface, roll to 18 x 12 inch rectangle.  Cut in six 6-inch squares.  Place apple (or piled up apple slices) on each.  sprinkle apples with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg if you like it.  dot with butter.  Moisten edges of pastry, bring corners up and pinch together to close around apple.

Place 1 inch apart on ungreased 11 x 7 x 1-1/2 inch baking pan.  Pour syrup over the dumplings; sprinkle with sugar if desired.  Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until apples are tender.  Serve with vanilla ice cream while warm or whipped cream.

Elbow Macaroni Hotdish (from Grandma Finger)

Joe has been talking about this hotdish lately.  My mother-in-law Margaret used to make it often and he'd literally shovel it in.  (she used to make EVERYTHING he liked on a regular basis though..she loved her grandkids so much!).  Between her homemade cinnamon rolls and some of her dishes like this, she had plenty of company with those hungry grandkids of hers!  Anyway, I make it occasionally, probably not quite the same as hers, but close and decided to make it tonight for supper for me and Dave.  We enjoyed it, good old comfort food, hotdish, corn on the cob fresh from the roadside stand, and fresh Colorado peaches..good meal!  There really is no recipe, but this is close to how I make it..

ELBOW MACARONI HOTDISH:

Cook a few cups about 2- 3? of elbow macaroni per the package directions to a dente.  (the oven will additionally cook it and you don't want mushy blown up macaroni..not good.

in a medium kettle, brown 1 lb of hamburger that is salt and peppered to your taste, about 1/4 cup of finely chopped onion, 1 stalk of celery that is finely diced, 1 whole carrot that is cleaned and finely diced and 1-1/2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (or the cream of mushroom/chicken blend soup-that's what I like to use), and 2-3 Tablespoons of Western dressing (I know it sounds weird, but it gives it a great flavor)  and a heaping tsp of the liquid beef base in the jar or a beef bouillon cube.  when the noodles are done, mix it all together, put in a casserole dish and bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes or until top looks a little bit brownish.  eat.

CARROT, ZUCCHINI, PINEAPPLE BUNDT CAKE

A coworker of mine brought in a GIANT zucchini she had found growing in her compost pile this last week.  No one wanted it so she brought it to me to see if I'd make something with it.  I kind of looked at it begrudgingly, but, because I hate wasting things so much, I took it and made this bundt cake for work on Monday.  I actually was going to make two recipes, but got too busy finishing up my Frida crochet project finally-picture will be on another post, and didn't have time to make two, but I will be making the second one and posting about that soon.  Everyone absolutely loved this cake..I put it in the breakroom and it was gone within an hour and people were coming in complaining it was gone because they wanted more!  It's definitely one to make if you want to use some zucchini.  very moist, dense and flavorful.  Here's the recipe with my  changes.

CARROT, ZUCCHINI, PINEAPPLE BUNDT CAKE:

3 cups white flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple in it's own juice (drained, but reserving syrup)
1 cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups cleaned and shredded carrots
1 cup peeled and shredded zucchini

For glaze: 3/4 cup powdered sugar (or make cream cheese frosting instead of glaze)  I made a glaze and put toasted coconut chips on mine (this recipe would be good with some coconut inside it too!)

DIRECTIONS:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  whisk together drained pineapple, brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil and vanilla in a large bowl  until smooth. 
3.  Add flour, white sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ginger, kind of tossing together with a whisk and then combining to the #1 ingredients until combined well.  don't over mix.
4.  Pour batter into a well greased and floured bundt cake pan..(I use the baking spray with the flour right in it and spray well).
5.  Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. 
6.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a rack.  remove cake from pan and cool on wire rack until completely cool, about 30+ minutes.

For the glaze put powdered sugar in a bowl and slowly add the reserved pineapple juice until a spreadable glaze forms.  drizzle over the cooled cake and add toasted coconut if desired.  I only used a partial amount of the glaze because I didn't want it making the cake soggy on the bottom when it dripped down, but you could use some waxed paper pieces under the cake and pull them out once the glaze stays put. 

Giant Blueberry Muffins

I had some blueberries in the fridge to use up, either by snacking on them, or making something with the small amount I had left..not enough for a pie or cobbler, so I thought of blueberry muffins.  I found this recipe on allrecipes called To die for Blueberry Muffins..a great choice for me because I love streusel on muffins and it had a 5 star rating.  I can see why it did.  These are really yummy.  just do a search for the recipe.  I won't post it because I did exactly what she recommended.  It makes 6 large muffins..I didn't see where she stated how many, so will let you know so you use the right size pan and don't dirty a bigger one..LOL.  I didn't use a cupcake liner, but probably would next time because they are so big that it's kind of a job to get them out easily, I managed but was scared I would crumble it all up.  Here's a picture.  Would be great for a brunch!

Dill pickles with garlic and Jalapeno

My husband really likes kosher dills.  I haven't canned any for him for a long time, but had been thinking about them lately, so decided to make him a few quarts for a treat and to bring deer hunting this year..it's kind of a tradition that he has had to buy them to bring the last few years!  I only made 7 jars because I favor my bread and butter pickles with hot dishes to eat and just for a snack sometimes.  I will be making much more of them because some of the kids/grandkids love them too! (tomorrow!).  I also am out of pickle relish so will be making some of that tomorrow too. 

Here is how I made the dills. 
Makes 7 quarts (I used wide mouth jars-easier to pack)

2-3 inch fresh pickling cucumbers, scrubbed and rinsed and set on a clean towel to dry (about 1/4 bushel?)

2 larger jalapenos, quartered.  you can add more if you really like spicy pickles.

1 large bunch of fresh dill with green heads

1-2 whole cleaned garlic cloves per jar, or 1 tsp minced garlic-that's what I used this time, per jar.

Run the 7 quart jars through the dishwasher cycle.  leave them in the dishwasher to stay hot once they are done.

In the meantime clean the cucumbers well with a vegetable scrub brush, rinse and lay on a clean towel.

rinse the dill and cut off the heads-I put 2 large or 3-4 smaller heads in each jar. 

In a larger kettle put in 8-1/2 cups of water, 2-1/4 cups of white vinegar, and 1/2 cup of canning salt..canning salt is different than regular salt, be sure to use the canning salt...bring to a low boil so the salt dissolves.  leave on warm.  I actually had to make 1/2 batch more as I had larger pickles so they didn't fill all the space like smaller ones should.

take out a clean jar, put the dill in the bottom, garlic and 1/4 of the jalapeno with the seeds in the jar.  pack it with the cleaned pickles, just to wear the neck starts.  pour in the brine until there is about 1 inch of jar left, bottom of the neck, and covering the pickles.  wipe the rim of the jar well with a clean, dampened paper towel.  apply a new lid and screw on the ring tightly.  put in a canner that has been half filled with hot water (heated on the burner).  fill remaining jars and then drop down the jar holder and fill the canner with more hot water from the facet until it's just over the jars.  cover and bring just to a boil.  shut off immediately, set jars on a towel and let seal.  do not disturb.