October 8, 2009

Readers Recipes and
Lifestyles with Sarah Bloom

ALUMINUM FOIL PACKETS
Aluminum foil sheets
Cooking spray
Thin slice of butter
1 very thin slice of sweet onion
Thinly sliced smoked ham (16 oz)
1 lb asparagus, thin stalks
Bacon, regular or pre-cooked, 2 slices per packet
Swiss or Havarti or Asiago cheese slices, any full flavor white cheese
Basil, leaves or dried or your favorite herb

Spray one side of the aluminum foil sheet. Wash the asparagus then cut approx. 4” – 5” in length. Fry the bacon and add asparagus pieces, do not brown it. Layer as follows: butter, onion, 3 slices of smoked ham overlapping each slice. Then come lots of asparagus, 1-2 slices bacon, 1 or 2 slices of cheese and sprinkle on dried basil or lay on 3 leaves of basil. Can add some pepper but do not add salt. Cover with 3 overlapped slices of ham. Fold the aluminum foil into a packet, place in you toaster oven to heat thoroughly, not more than 10 minutes. This is easy and goes together fast. Use ingredients you have on hand to make it your way.
Joyce Walker
Clay City

CARROT CASSEROLE
2 pounds carrots
½ cup milk
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup margarine
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
Topping:
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp margarine
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
2/3 cup coconut, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook and mash carrots. Fold in milk, granulated sugar, margarine, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well. Pour into 8x11 inch pan or casserole dish. Combine and mix all topping ingredients. Sprinkle over carrot mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Bill Irvine

MICROWAVE STROGANOFF
2 Tbsp butter
1 ½ lb boneless beef sirloin steak cut into thin strips
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 envelope onion soup mix
2 ¼ cups hot water
1 can (4 oz) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
½ cup sour cream
Hot cooked noodles

Melt the butter in a 2 qt. microwave safe dish, arrange the meat evenly in dish. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 4 ½ minutes, stirring once. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and keep warm. Stir flour and soup mix into drippings until smooth. Add mushrooms and beef. Cover and microwave on high for 13-14 minutes or until the meat is tender and the sauce is thickened, stirring several times. Stir in the sour cream. Serve with noodles.
Kim Smith
Stanton

PIZZA SNACK
Ritz crackers
Pizza sauce
Pepperoni slices
Mozzarella cheese

Cover each cracker with pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is bubbly.
Mechelle Crouch
Clay City

CUCUMBER SANDWICHES
Loaf French bread, sliced
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup mayo
1 pkg. dry Ranch dressing mix
Sliced cucumbers
Dill, optional

Mix cream cheese, mayo, and Ranch dressing mix until smooth. Use as a spread on French bread slices. Top with cucumber slice and sprinkle with a pinch of dill or parsley.
Mechelle Crouch
Clay City

The best anti-aging formula
By Sarah Bloom

When I was around five years old my dad and a few helpful family members were pouring a cistern beside our home. I kept my distance so I wouldn’t get in the way, but I would occasionally sneak a glance down into the concrete hole my dad was working in. During one of my observations I was horrified to find my daddy standing in wet concrete that was quickly covering the bottom part of his legs. I was convinced he was going to become stuck in the gooey gray stuff and be a permanent fixture in the bottom of that cistern. At the time and at that age it never occurred to me that concrete doesn’t dry that quickly and that he was simply smoothing it out as it came pouring down. In my young eyes it was all a big scary mess that was trying to entrap my daddy.
One reason I love having children so much is because you get a second chance to view the world from the eyes of a child. Once you become an adult it is easy to forget the simplicity of being a kid. The days consist of commitments and work, appointments and ball practices, school work and lunch boxes. But when you are blessed with children it is such a wonderful opportunity to step back and listen to the world and see the world through the eyes of innocence.
One of my favorite things to do with my boys is to chase them through the house. Sometimes it is to “scare” them and sometimes we all start a towel snapping competition which I am proud to say that I am undefeated in. Anyway, there is nothing sweeter than the sound of their happy laughter whether it is coming from my ten year old or two year old.
I was standing in the kitchen the other night washing up some dishes when my two year old came creeping around the side of the counter with his little hands raised high in the air. He was trying his best to look scary and when I asked him what he was doing he said in his best spooky voice, “I a vampower!” I honestly think if someone found a way to bottle a child’s imagination it would outsell any anti-aging remedy on the market.
Children have unique ways of making sense of conversations they either completely don’t understand or have only caught portions of. For example, our little dog just came in season and we had to put her up in a dog pen at my parent’s house for awhile. I was trying my best to delicately explain this doggy milestone to my boys, but I’m not quite sure they understood. For one, they are all still complaining that Shiloh is being unfairly penned up and want her home. For two, my eight year old son Luke asked me a little while later why she had overheated anyway.
Sunday, after church, I was trying to have a secretive conversation with my mom in the front seat of my van about an upcoming trip my husband and I may take our boys on. I usually don’t like to tell the boys any details about a possible outing just in case the plans fall through.
My son Hunter was sitting in the backseat and I thought we were being pretty slick with our whispered conference. I was even using code names for certain things because the spelling it out trick doesn’t work so well on a ten year old. At one point instead of saying Tennessee I said going “down South” and was fairly confident I had gotten away with it. Well, later that day I overheard Hunter excitedly telling his brothers that we were going to South America.
My boys hold my heart and through their love and enthusiasm for life they keep me young. Now if I could just get my body to cooperate.
Have a wonderful week and may God watch over and bless you all! This is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it!