Iced Coffee--I apologize MOM

I like coffee...well, let's tell the truth. I LOVE coffee. I can drink it just before bed and sleep all night long. I can drink it hot and hotter. I can put it in a cup of half milk and half coffee with some cocoa mix. YUMMY

When I was little my dad always told me that if I drank coffee my feet would turn black. But then he gave in and in one of his thin china cups we would put about 1 ounce of coffee and fill the cup with milk. I thought I was a big girl. Drinking coffee. He also did that with the younger brothers too. I don't know about the older brother as he is 4 years older than me.

And my mom liked iced coffee. I remember. I don't remember much about my much younger years, but what I do remember always has a traumatic aspect about it.

Well anyway, mom was sitting out in her redwood chaise with a GLASS of coffee. I don't remember any other time seeing her with something like that. Before or after this particular day. I half way climbed into her lap and asked for a drink. She let me sip.

EWWWWW. What is that---I yelled. That stuff is bad. Not good. AWFUL.

Oh how we have to eat our words. And now I am. I was a terrible kid. I can only remember ever saying things that were hurtful.

So right now ----I apologize mom. I know now why you drank that iced coffee.

 It was because you liked it. It's strong. It keeps it's flavor until the last drop.

It is AMAZING!!!!

And it's even better with cream.

More Later, Linda

Yes YOU can cook BEANS

Beans -- any kind of DRY beans, and some fresh ones, have a tendency to produce stomach problems. You KNOW what I mean.

One of the most nutritious meals a person can have is legumes, brown rice, and tomato, or green vegetables. This meal has everything a body needs. Even some calcium.

When your paycheck leaves you with $2 at the end of the pay period, a mother has to do what she can to make the food dollar go as far as it can.

So beans it is. Along with refrigerator potato dough rolls. Oatmeal or maltomeal for breakfast and snacks of fruit in season and milk.

We had meat twice a week. Saturday nights we would go to Jerry's uncle's house for hamburgers. He would grill them and were they good.

And on Sundays I would fry chicken or do something else, like chuck roast.

That was our meat for the week.

The kids very seldom were sick and neither was Jerry or myself. The diet must have been good for us or we would have been sick all of the time.

Now onto the stomach rumbles caused by the beans. I couldn't stand that bloating and the rumbling and the discomfort. So I went back to research. I asked all the little old ladies in our neighborhood what they did to fix that problem.

Over the years I have perfected the process.

Get your beans ready--wash and check for bad beans or rocks.

Get your biggest pot and put your beans in.  Fill with water to cover beans by at least 3 inches. Start the water to heating. When it boils add 1 teaspoon of Bicarbonate Soda for each pound of beans.

This will foam up and spill over if your pot is not big enough. Ask me how I know this.

Turn the fire down to a high simmer and let them simmer for 20 minutes. Then pour your beans into a colander and rinse all that soda off.

Clean the pot and put the beans back into it. Or put them in a crock pot. On the stove top --- cover the beans with water again, bring to a boil, simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, and add spices when they have cooked about 20 minutes, but no salt. Salting at this time will make the take longer to cook. In the crock pot do the same. Salt just as you get ready to serve.

Voila!!!!! Beans without the stomach rumbles. I found out this works even in altitudes over a mile high.

Happy cooking, Linda

Speaking of BEANS

My dad's family never EVERY ate beans. The sure didn't eat black eyed peas.  All of those veggies were for cows to eat. They were not fit for human consumption. Were they wrong!!!

So where did this love of beans come from. I mean I have this viseral NEED for beans sometimes. I think it's a comfort. Soft, warm beans--or peas--just calm me right down.

That unfortunately was not the case when Jerry and I first met. As I said my family did NOT eat beans. Jerry is a Texan and they eat beans. RED beans.

So, he sent me to the grocery for some red beans. I found the RED kidney beans and brought them home and cooked them.  They were rock hard and had NO seasoning. So I am at the stove trying to get them to cook. And find something to make them taste good.

In he walks and I tell him they aren't ready.  That was ok because he was going to take a bath and study for a while. He was in college at that time.

Supper finally got ready and I was so proud of myself. I had cooked the beans, found something to make them taste good and they were ready to eat.

He took one bite and spit it out. What's wrong with these beans? He looked at the beans. Really looked at them and shouted-- There are maggots in these beans.

Well that couldn't be true because I took them out of the package and soaked them and cooked them that day. So I looked.

Sure enough there was something in there that looked like maggots.

We had a mystery there. A BIG one!!!

 After thorough investigation we found out what was wrong. The beans had sprouted and when they were cooked the beans split and the sprouts came out.

Problem solved.

NO!!!!

They didn't taste right.

I got red bens just like you said--I said.

These are NOT red beans--he said.

I got the bag. It said RED kidney beans on it. Right on the front of the package.!! DUH!! I got RED beans--I said!!

 LOUDLY!!!

We went to the grocery store.

He looked for the red beans. He picked up a package that had RED beans printed on it. He found a package just like I had gotten,  he kept looking and finally found some that looked right.

They were brown and speckled.

The package read---PINTO BEANS.

He bought the package and we had pinto beans the next day.

This is what finally decided, after years of experimenting, for seasoning of beans.

For every 2 pounds of beans
1 tablespoon of granulated garlic
1 tablespoon of oregano
2 tablespoons of cumin
1 tablespoon of parsley
And AFTER they cook add salt and pepper to taste.

Later about how to make them gas-less.

Linda

FOOD, Glorious FOOD

Jerry is not eating well these days so I have a challenge every night trying to find SOMETHING that will really taste good to him. He grew up on a farm and they butchered their own beef. So his preference is beef. Beef is EXPENSIVE these days.

Last night I cooked a pork loin. He ate everything on his plate. Except for the fatty part of the loin.

Let me tell you this. When you have a picky eater it is NOT easy to cook for them. But I'm not into fast, or boxed food. I cook fresh as much as possible. So let me tell you about the pork and the green beans.

Jerry LOVES real maple syrup.Our son even brought us gallons of it,  His friend brought it over to Saudi, where he was working at the time, from Canada. It's the REAL stuff. So for the graze I took about 1/2 cup of the maple syrup, added some yellow mustard, the kind that you put on hot dogs, and slathered that loin with the mix.  Then I thought it needed more flavor.

What could I use?  What does he like? What goes well with pork?

Sage and garlic. So I got out the granulated garlic and sprinkled the loin until it smelled right. Not too much flavor, but a hint of the garlic as Jerry likes it, but not an overpowering flavor. Then I did the same with the sage. Just enough. I could smell the garlic and the sage, but it didn't run me out of the kitchen.

Well duh!!! I forgot to add the salt and pepper. So a little salt and a lot of pepper. Since it was still frozen in the middle I left it out to finish thawing and as it thawed the flavors sank into the meat.

YUM-YUM-YUM!!!!

Now for the green beans. I use frozen. I don't like the taste of canned green beans. So this is how I do the green beans.

To a small pack of green beans I cover with water. Add 1 teaspoon of chicken bouillon. Some salt. A clove of garlic cut into 7 or 8 pieces. And a rounded teaspoon of bacon grease.

He eats EVERY bean.  I don't cook them until they are gray, but I do cook them until they are soft.

Just a little bit about about what I use to help me in the kitchen. I never went to any of those gourmet places. Well not all the time. So I had to come up with a way to have utensils that I could afford. How about $1 for a way to put the glaze on the loin, or the barbecue sauce on the ribs.

Use a chip brush from your local home improvement store. They come in narrower or even wider bristled. And when it starts to fall apart. Just go back to the home improvement store and get another one. I put it through the dish washer after every use.

And for the surprise of the year!!!

The slicing knife!!!! Most every one has one. I did for YEARS. Jerry got us a good set of knives when we got back from England. It has a chef's knife. I slicer and a another large knife that I can't remember what they call it. And a paring knife.

I finally decided to try to use the slicer. It works WONDERS on homegrown tomatoes. So I decided that it was a slicer, let's slice.

That pork loin just was beautiful slices. No crumbles. No broken off pieces. It looked good on that plate.

He ate well last night. Mashed potato, green bean and pork loin. What else could you ask for?

More later, Linda

I'm NOT eating THAT !!!

There she is.  Waiting for her food. She has gotten that Yorkie----I am NOT gonna eat attitude.

Well, we will see about that.

If I didn't know any better I would think she is ready to attack. Beady little eyes. Squinty and that tongue ready to spew out some real furry people expletives!!! She is on her last nerve. And mine too.

Well, so am I. And this is what she got out to eat when I put her bowl down.  She wouldn't eat in the kitchen.  No, no NO. Nevry EVERY!!! Not again.

So I brought her bowl into the room where we were and hoped she would eat. Oh she put her face into that bowl and brought out one, count it ONE little bone shaped piece of that food.  Can you imagine. My mom would have told me that there were children starving so I had to eat it. And I did because just thinking about those starving kids made me sad.


This is what's left of the food in the bowl. She only gets a 1/4 of a cup 3 times a day.  She has to lose 2 pounds and she has lost almost one. I guess she wants to lose the other pound in a week. Not happening.!!!

I rattled that bowl. Once,   twice,    three times,      four times.

She still wouldn't eat any of it.

As you can see the bone shaped morsel is still on the rug. Yorkies can be really stubborn!!! That;s what the lady told us when we got the first one.  She DID NOT LIE!!!

If I don't look maybe it will go away.

Not on your NELLIE little girl.

That's what you think OLD LADY. I'm NOT eating ANYTHING----especially not that !!!

I think I might take a nap.Oh no you don't SWEETHEART. You WILL eat.

See you just have to be firm with them.  Kids are the same way.  Gonna love your furry kids as well as the ones that aren't furry.



Her tummy is full and now it's time for a nap. Isn't that the way it is with all of our kids. You have to love them even when they are so STUBBORN. I think I should have put that on her papers.

More later Linda

STOP!!! Don't make another move!!!

Sarah and Baby Girl FINALLY got together in the same house at the same time. What a show they put on.

It's been hot today. Really HOT.  It's 4pm and it's still 99degrees. With very little wind. Humidity is sky high and it's just down right hot. So we let Baby Girl into the house.

Baby Girl has a very long tongue!!!. She panted and panted for about 15 minutes. She was very hot. I know EXACTLY how she feels.

Sarah decided that the only way to get along with Baby Girl was to ignore her. So she tried.

But when her DADDY decided to pet Baby Girl and not HER!!!! She came unglued. Down to the floor she went. Didn't growl or any thing just let Baby Girl that she didn't like it when her daddy tried to be friends with Baby Girl. NO, Nada, non. NEVER!!!

Here she goes!!! Look our Baby Girl the TERROR is coming to see YOU!!!

That's OK Baby Girl says daddy. How do you think that went over??? Not good.  NOOO, NOT GOOD!!!

You stay out of my territory, says Sarah. But if you have to be here then I guess it's OK. I mean, I don't share food and water with ANYONE!!!

I will just ignore her and my problem will go away.

I'm still ignoring her. And I will continue to ignore her until , well, I don't know when!! Just until----------------------------------------------------------- And that probably won't be long enough to ignore this problem.

I'm really sad. I've ignored her. That problem in my house. But it's still here. Now what do I do?  I guess I'll just have to make friends with her and try my best to get along.

Kinda like life even for non furry people. HUH????

More later, Linda



Cooking----I love it!!!

I really love to cook. Sometimes, yes, I do make things that don't go over well. But 99% of the time it is all eaten.

Tonight we had mashed potato, salad, and grilled chicken thighs.  One of the thighs was hunormous.
That means REALLY big. That one was for Jerry and he ate the whole thing.

About a month ago I didn't want a huge dinner. So I made SUPER NACHOS

Well, I didn't have any corn chips.  AHHH no!!

But I did have some corn tortillas. So I cut them in half and fried them.  Put on some home cooked pinto beans. Just like I make them. Because I DID make them.  AND I make them gas-less. No "breaking wind" at our house!!!!

So I put those beans in a non stick skillet and mashed them around a little.  VIOLA!!! Refried beans.

While I was making fat less refried beans, I cooked the hamburger meat with some garlic powder, some oregano, some chicken bouillon, some paprika, and salt and pepper.

Then I cut up the crispy lettuce, the cold tomatoes, and the homegrown onions. YUMMMMMY!!!

Grated some sharp cheddar. And then I began to assemble the feast.

 I put the newly fried chips on 2 plates, put on some refried beans, some taco meat and some cheese. Put the plates in the microwave for about a minute. Everything was hot so it didn't need anymore time.

When I took the plates out I quickly put on a layer of lettuce, then onion, and then the tomato.

HEAVEN!!!

More later, Linda