Recouperation and Recipe

Getting over this flu has been a slow uphill climb. I have been having sinus problems. I am feeling not to bad this morning. John is finally starting to feel better. He had a pretty rough weekend but did manage to keep himself out of emergency. He had to go for blood work yesterday. The stem cell team has been keeping a close eye on him. He did have to go for a little bolus (I.V.) yesterday because he was a little dehydrated. The nausea is settling and he is able to eat now. Hurray! He is going for a bone density test on Wednesday. He is going for gamma globulin on Thursday and Friday. That should give his immune system a boost. I think the whole thing was a bit of the stomach flu on top of the other flu symptoms. Nothing else showed up.

I am going to post the chicken noodle soup recipe. This is going to be difficult because I don't measure anything. I have made so may pots of this soup over the years.

Mennonite Style Chicken Noodle Soup

8 - 10 chicken drumsticks
12 cups of water ( 1 cup = 500 ml. )
1/2 large onion finely chopped. ( or according to taste)
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbs. star anise
1 chunk of fresh ginger root about the size of a walnut or two medium sized dried roots
3 bay leaves
salt to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste

Bring to a boil then simmer drumsticks and onions in the water in a medium size stock pot until the chicken is ready to fall off the bones. I use drumsticks because they are cheep and I want bones in the chicken. I think that this makes a better stock than boneless chicken.

Remove the chicken from the stock and add all the other ingredients. Simmer for another hour. After the drumsticks are cool remove meat from the bones and add half the chicken. John does not like a lot of chicken in the soup. If you like a lot of chicken go ahead and add all of it. It is simply a matter of taste. I always remove the chicken before adding the spices so they don't take on the flavor of the spices. I make chicken salad with the rest.

If you don't have enough chicken for the stock you can use canned chicken stock. We have done this on occasion. I don't think that it tastes quite as good.

Noodles

6 eggs beaten
2 tsp. salt
4 tbs. milk
4 cups flour

This recipe is doubled. When I make noodles, I usually double the recipe because I can use the extra in other recipes. These noodles are very good served with a cream gravy and Mennonite style farmer sausage. Very high fat meal there but ever so good. Anyway, I digress. Mix that all up into a nice glob of dough. If you have a noodle maker you can proceed to make your noodles. If you do not have a noodle maker you will have to do it the old fashioned way and use some elbow grease. Roll out the dough using lots of flour over and under it. Cut it into strips. Stack the strips in workable piles putting liberal amounts of flour between the strips. Cut the noodles. You cand make fat noodles or skinny noodles. This is a matter of personal preference. LOL Have a large pot of boiling water ready. Shake the excess flour out of the noodles and boil until done. They will float to the top of the pot. Your noodles will look quite rugged if you have to make the hand cut kind but never mind. They are wonderful. Because we live in Mennonite country, I can purchase some reasonable ready made noodles so I rarely make my own anymore. It is a messy buisness. LOL But worth it! John's mother has a noodle making machine so she does give me noodles she has made and dried from time to time. You can dry the noodles you have made if you want. You need a large surface to lay them out on.

Little Things

Sometimes small things make me happy. Today it is Chicken Gumbo soup. I have not been able to find this soup for years! While I like the soup, the main reason that I am so happy is the fact it is the main ingredient in my mothers Sloppy Joe recipe. Another thing that just made me happy is the fact that I just managed to spell the word recipe correct without my spell check underlining the word.


I bought 5 cans! One is already missing. I had to have some. Today I am going to make the Chicken Gumbo Sloppy Joe's. Oh...Yeah!


All that is needed is half a Kg. of lean ground beef. Brown that using extra virgin olive oil. Add the can of soup. Give the whole works a squirt of ketchup and a squirt of mustard. Ha! It's just that easy. I am going to add a disclaimer to this recipe. I am a person who has very simple food tastes. A good dinner for me is plain fried ground beef with ketchup and some toast! Also: when I showed this marvelous find to my husband, he shook his head and gave me a funny look. That is not a good sign.

This is all I have time for today. Later this week I plan to post the Mennonite style chicken noodle soup recipe and a picture of the finished sweater. I am waiting for the model to feel better and maybe shave his face. His hair is coming back in. He is still feeling sick. I am hoping the new antibiotics will kick in and that he will start to perk up. He is so sick and tired of being sick and tired. The sweater is too big on him. He did lose some weight. I am disappointed in it. I feel like taking the whole thing apart but it really is not worth it. I think that my better option is to go and get new yarn and redo the whole thing and make the adjustments then donate the other sweater to charity.

I Can't Believe How Good My Kitchen Smells

This Is Why!

Eat the Pie By Myself Or Should I Share?


O.K. I Guess I Will Share!

Thank you Jientje for the recipe. I have been saving it for a special occasion. My kitchen smells absolutely fabulous! It's all that butter and caramelized apples! I can't describe how good it smells in here even though I cheated on the recipe. I used ready made pie crust. We are celebrating John's 54th birthday tonight. Tomorrow he is supposed to get admitted for his stem cell transplant so we will have one more semi-big shindig before he goes in.

After waiting patiently all afternoon until our guests came, I finally got to taste...umm...it tastes even better than it smelled. This is delicious!

This is what Jientje gave up for blogging. This is a video of Belgium bobbin lace making. Isn't this amazing? A little Heaven in Belgium here in Saskatchewan!

Taa...Daa!

PEPPER NUTS!

I Love a Good Contest

Check out the contest at dabooklady's recipe site. You can win prizes! Yes...prizes! Its not hard to enter. Simply answer a few fun questions and add a favorite recipe. After everybody enters then perhaps you will be able to find a new favorite recipe. This is a nice way to share recipes. I am going to add another recipe here because it really is one of my favorites!

When John and I were engaged, the first time we went to meet his parents, his mom served these homemade cookies. I don't know how many I ate! I was afraid she would think I was a greedy girl! They were sooo good! They are just a simple oatmeal raisin cookie but have just the amount of crunch that I like...melt in your mouth crunch. Yum...I made some yesterday. I am having trouble keeping Mike out of them. LOL

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. margarine
i egg
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. flour1 1/4 c. oatmeal
Raisins (as many as you like)

Mix margarine and sugar and cream them together. Add egg and beat. Add dry ingredients. Mix well. Roll into balls. Place on cookie sheet. Slightly flatten the cookie balls with a spoon. Bake at 350F until golden brown.

Opps...The Real Pepper Nut Recipe

Please disregard the previous pepper nut recipe that I had posted...twas wrong. My mother-in-law was over today and I showed her the recipe that I had posted and informed her that I was going to make some and she said that was the wrong recipe. That recipe was for ginger snaps plus she changes the sugar when she makes it. I do not know how well that recipe would work out even for ginger snaps. Anyway here is the correct recipe.

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup syrup (I am guessing molasses or maybe a dark syrup like Rogers syrup)
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
5 to 6 cups flour (you might need a little more)

Cream sugar, eggs and butter. Add syrup and buttermilk. then add the sifted dry ingredients. Mix to form a soft dough. Shape into 1 inch thick rolls and cool in fridge for better handling. Cut into about 1 inch lengths, separating the pieces, put on a greased cookie sheet and and bake at 350F until golden brown.

Oh...I hope I did not lead anybody astray.

To heaveninbelgium

Pepper Cookies (Peppernuts)

2 c. white sugar
1 c. lard or margarine
2 eggs
1 c. molasses
2 tsp. baking soda in 1/2c. hot water
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. pepper 1/4tsp. salt
5c. flour

Mix in the order given and bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes

Hahaha! This is without a doubt one of the least informative recipes I have seen for a while. Ummm. the author (my mother-in-law) assumes the person wanting to make these knows what they are. I pulled it out of an old church cook book. She is a wonderful cook. I doubt that she even looks at recipes for much. Anyway...mix them up...roll them into little balls about the size of hazelnut. Bake. I would keep your eye on them. Don't over bake or they will be so hard you will break your teeth. They are a hard cookie but I think I read that you were just at the dentist!

A Pet A Day:

Todays feature pet is my grandcat Shyla. She lived at my house for about three years. Now she lives with her real owner.(my daughter) She was a rescue cat. We think that she was a from a feral cat's litter. She was very timid as a kitten and still spooks easily. Once she decides that you are O.K. as a human she will not leave you alone.

Soft...sweet...shy...rabid?

A year ago she fell off her cat condo and tore a tendon. She had to have surgery . This is what she did with the pain medications. She is a tiny cat but it was almost impossible for even two people to get that pill down her. She is doing fine now although she ca't jump up onto tables or any high areas.