Just me, checking in - Finally !!!

Hello, it's me. Perhaps you don't recognize me. It's been awhile. I've missed y'all.

I have NOT fallen off the face of the earth, though, at times over the last 6 weeks, I felt like I'd slipped into The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits or some such place or time warp.

They say life is what happens while you're making other plans. I'm here to say that is so, so true. I was PLANNING to post. I took pictures, made notes, drafted posts but they never quite got posted. THINGS (life) kept getting in the way.

The first few weeks we were just super busy doing fun things. I took lots of pics to share with y'all but before I could post them, July came along.

The Big Guy officially retired (completely) on July 1st. (No more of that "semi-retired" gig from last year.) We rolled right into a very busy and hectic 4-day holiday weekend, celebrating his new freedom and the the 4th of July with family and friends.

By mid-week, we were unexpectedly driving to Nebraska as The Big Guy's mom is not doing well. (She's in hospice care.) We spent two weeks there before heading home for a short respite. Four days after arriving home, we began packing again as the situation had worsened. A last minute call before hitting the highway convinced us to sit tight for the moment. (Meds were changed and things leveled off a bit.) It's so difficult being 1200 miles away at times like this.

So, here we are, in a holding pattern, living out of a suitcase in our own bedroom just so we can be ready on very short notice. We don't make plans more than 2 days in advance and worry each time the phone rings.

I hope to get back to daily posting but without warning, we may be back on the road with no internet access. (I've GOT to get me a laptop one of these days. Maybe Santa's looking for an early shopping idea.)

Please bear with me. I'll post when I can.

Mmmm!!! Chocolate Pudding !!!

It's Chocolate Pudding Day today !!!


Whether you make it from scratch, whip up a box of instant or simply pull the foil off a pudding cup, I LOVE a good chocolate pudding.


The Big Guy is not a pudding fan at all, so, more often than not, I simply keep pudding cups on hand for my own indulgences. My favorites at the moment are the Jello Sugar-Free Dark Chocolate and the Jello Temptations' Dk. Chocolate Mousse. ______

Only 60 calories and, I find, it's very satisfying and soothing.

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You know, some folks have been known to enjoy Pudding Wrestling !!! So, what's your favorite way to enjoy Chocolate Pudding?

Don't you just love smelling bread baking?

My husband claims one of his fondest childhood memories is the smell of his dad baking good old-fashioned yeast rolls on Thanksgiving Day. He only made them on holidays. The Big Guy says he remembers the cozy, loving smell more than the bread itself (although he'll never turn down a tasty chunk of fresh bread!)

Unfortunately, he married a yeast-challenged gal! I can cook fairly well otherwise but yeast and I just don't share a kitchen well! It's kind of the old "doesn't play with others" theme. The best thing I can do for those around my table wanting a nice fresh roll is go the brown'n'serve route! I am NOT a breadmaker!

BUT, if YOU are . . .

Wichita, Kansas is holding the National Festival of Breads and Baking this weekend. It's America's only amateur bread baking contest to celebrate the art of baking, to encourage the use of Kansas products and to recognize the wheat and milling industries that are so much a part of Kansas' economy and lifestyle. The main thrust of the festival is the Bread and Baking Contest where average folks (amateurs) are encouraged to develop and share recipes for breads and related products. New categories added in recent years include bread machine recipes, rolls and holiday breads.

So, if you are in to bread baking (or even just homemade bread EATING), you might want to head to Wichita this weekend. It's bound to smell great, there!

P.S. - Did'ja know ...

Kansas produces enough wheat each year to bake 36 billion loaves of bread and enough to feed EVERYONE in the world, over 6 billion people, for about 2 weeks. One acre of Kansas wheat produces enough bread to feed nearly 9,000 people for one day!!

Purple Hull Peas ???

Purple's my favorite color but I've never associated it with peas. Have you ?

So, just what is a Purple Hull Pea ?
If you grew up in Emerson, Arkansas, I'm sure you'd know. This Friday and Saturday, they're holding the 20th Annual Purple Hull Pea Festival. I think it's the world's largest and oldest (and probably ONLY) Purple Hull Pea Festival !

Purple Hull Peas are very similar to black-eyed peas but have more flavor. Just like black-eyed peas and crowder peas, they are part of the "cow pea" or "Southern pea" families. It is believed they originated in Africa and migrated to the Southern states along with the slaves. Eaten by the very poor and used as forage crops for livestock, they were slow to come into use by the general population, and are still considered a "Southern thang" or "soul food." They're most commonly eaten with cornbread. In fact, one of the featured events of the festival is the Great Purple Hull Peas & Cornbread Cook Off."

There's also a new 20th Annual Purple Hull Pea Festival Cookbook available, titled "20 Pea Pickin' Years." If you can't get to the festival in person, you can order the cookbook by mail here. (It's also available at local businesses in Emerson.)

Another festival event is a Pea Shelling Competition. If you don't mind purple fingers and aching thumbnails, c'mon down and give it a shot. They'll provide the peas, all you have to do is show up. There will even be play-by-play coverage in true ESPN-style. The audience is filled with those cheering on their favorites. You gotta see it to believe it!!
One of the other major sports attractions at the festival is the Fastest Garden Tiller Competition. (This is not your standard tractor race, My Friends!)

So, why not bring your sweet little pea-pickin' heart down to Emerson, Arkansas this weekend and get into the purple ?!?!

My kingdom for a chocolate eclair !

Happy National Chocolate Eclair Day !!!


May your dough be light,
Your chocolate rich and creamy,
And your filling sweet and smooth.

I just LOVE a great eclair, don't you?

Let them bake cornbread!!

Okay, so I decided to enter this cornbread recipe contest this week. I didn't find out about the contest until Friday evening and the deadline for submitting your (hopefully) winning recipe is Wednesday. So time was tight.

The rules are simple. Using Shirley J Corn Bread & Muffin Mix, they want you to come up with one "spectacularly original and delicious recipe." they suggest channeling "your inner cornbread connoisseur" and thinking outside the box or "muffin tin," so to speak. I was sure I could do that!!

So I spent all night Friday (I swear I had visions of hush puppies dancing in my head!) and most of the day Saturday brainstorming and jotting ideas down. (We attended and all-day music event so that was about all I could do then.) I thought I had come up with some interesting concepts, too.

Let the record show, I had no Shirley J brand mixes on hand at that time. In fact, my pantry held 2 boxes of Jiffy brand corn bread mix and 8 (yes, EIGHT) boxes of Baker's Corner brand. (What can I say? It was a really good sale!)

To be honest, I'd never even heard of Shirley J mixes but I figured just how different could these mixes be? Cornbread mix is just that - cornbread mix. They all seem about the same and carry the same directions for making that mix into corn bread, corn muffins and hush puppies.

My plan was to create, experiment and refine my recipes using these imposters in my cabinet. Once perfect, I would buy some Shirley J, whip it up to be sure it worked with their product and submit my entry. Fantastic plan.

Early Sunday morning, I got up and began mixing and prepping. I played with my batter and got what appeared to be a reasonable waffle batter. For interest, I crumbled some crispy bacon into the batter. Let's just call the "Cornbread Waffle" "FAIL NO. 1" (twice). (The family ate toasted English muffins with jam and melon for breakfast.)

We had afternoon plans so my next cornbread effort came Sunday evening when I made nibbles for The Big Guy's weekly card game. I was thinking little pizzas with cornbread crusts and "different" toppings. I just had to adapt the batter to a dough consistency.

I divided the batter into thirds so I could experiment with different additives and amounts to reach the consistency I needed. When I succeeded, I figured I could simply adjust amounts for a full batter amount. Doing these small pizzas would also give me a chance to come up with the ideal topping combination to enhance the cornbread flavor. "Ideal" as not an adjective any of the guys uses to describe these snacks. Okay, so we had "SEMI FAIL NO. 2."

Monday, I continued with the divide and conquer method of preparation. I was working on a theory of making a larger, fluffier hush puppy - one large enough to make a sandwich with - sort of a cornbread croissant concept. Perhaps a crab or shrimp salad would be an appropriate filling. Where I had to thicken and dry the batter for the pizza crust, I needed to fluff it up for the "roll." Easier said than done, folks. "FAIL No. 3!"

I was getting frustrated and scratched idea NO. 4 altogether and NO. 5 just didn't go well at all. With only one box of mix left to work with, I decided to work with the "real" thing - some Shirley J Mix, for my final effort.

Hmmm, it seems, Shirley J Corn Bread & Muffin Mix is NOT readily available in my area. After checking several large markets, I reluctantly gave up. After all, $50 and a 4-lb package of cornbread mix just isn't worth these headaches!

My chef's hat is off to all who have persevered and entered their great creations in this contest. May the best cornbread connoisseur win. Good luck to all !!

Keep your eyes on this space. I hope to bring you a recipe for a perfected Cajun jam pizza with cornbread crust in the near future. I'm sure it just needs a little more tweaking!

Do you like a challenge?

So, I've got my dessert ready for tomorrow's get-together and, though the hosts only ask us to each bring something for the dessert table, no side or salad is ever turned away (or, left over, for that matter!)

Let's be honest, if it's edible, bring it. Someone will eat it. If it needs to be grilled or fried, there's plenty of manpower to do that cooking and some mighty big grills and fryers going all day. They just ask that whatever you bring is meant to be shared with the crowd.

Last year, someone actually brought a 10 lb. bag of tater tots. They were fried up in minutes and gobbled up just as fast. No one ever claimed we were gourmets!

While mulling over what else I might make to take along, I decided to play a bit on the computer and what should I come across but a RECIPE CONTEST called "What Should I Bring?" (Maybe it's an omen.)

Seriously, Dinner Tool is sponsoring a contest to find great, easy to make and take dishes perfect for summer picnics and potlucks. We all have some family favorites and stand-bys for these occasions and they'd like us to share those ideas. It could pay off well, too. There will be 4 First Prizes of $100 each and one of those four will also win the Grand Prize - another $1,000!!!! That could make for one heck of a summer picnic!!

The deadline is nigh (June 23 - next Thursday!) BUT it is really easy to enter. All you need to do is upload the recipe to the website. Pictures are optional but won't count toward judging.

I'm already letting my mind run down my standards to see what my crowd enjoys that I could enter. I sent the family each an email asking what their favorites are. I figure if they like them, chances are good others might, too.

I dare you to enter. I'm up for the competition. What have we got to lose? (Just a few minutes of typing.)

For details, click here.

Oh yeah, we get to VOTE, too. Once the dinner tool folks select the top four recipes, they'll post them at www.DinnerTool.com and the public gets to vote from 6/28/11-7/12/11. (If you're lucky enough to be one of those four, you can feel free to lobby the public for their votes on Twitter, FB, blogs, etc.) The Grand Prize winner will be announced on 7/13/11.