One More Time


August 8, 2017

Several years ago (2010) I decided that it would be fun to be a blogger on the internet. Knowing almost nothing about creating a web site or a blog I looked for a place that would make it easy for me to pursue my ambition. Blogspot seemed like the perfect fit for me. With a little effort I had my first blog set up. The title page was Donnie – What’s On Her Mind? The blog post were usually inspired by things that had happened during the week, or things that I was thinking about that I wasn’t voicing around the house. The blogs that were posted were mostly about family, friends, work, faith, recipes, food, pets, and music, etc.. I kept up with that blog for about a year. More often than not I had problems getting a post to look good and it seemed like I just didn’t have the time to pursue learning how to work with the pages, etc., I eventually just stopped posting.

The desire to blog never left. I knew I needed a bit more education on working on creating pages, adding pictures, and editing. There were so many times that I forgot to save a post or just some editing. Frustration is something I tend to abhor. Sometime later I ran across Word Press. You gotta love them. Word Press can teach you so much about blogging. After looking over their site, I thought that I would give myself the chance to try again to create a blog. Grandma Donnie Online was the name of this new blog. The title page read 60ish Great Grandma and Loving It. It’s been so long that I’m going to have to edit the title page. I worked on it off and on for about a year also. I didn’t work on learning as much as I should have. There was just so much happening on the home front then that I couldn’t dedicate the time that it would take to do the blog justice. It is great that Word Press has so many bloggers and that so many of them have interest the same has mine. To save time and still have regularly posted articles I began to repost the post of some of the bloggers whose articles interesting, inspiring, or encouraging. I was thrilled whenever a blogger would repost one of my blog post. Eventually I didn’t have time to repost others articles.

Time passed but the desire to blog never left me. I thought why not go a bit bigger and get a dot com of my own. I had a yahoo mail account and knew that they did web hosting. There webhosting made publishing a blog fairly easy. I love being a Great Grandma and being online with a blog seemed like fun, so the name Grandma Donnie Online was used again. Once again life happened when I was making other plans and not much was accomplished with this blogging adventure. Today I’m ready to try again.

I am going to keep the Blogger blog spot. It’s more than likely going to be a way to keep in contact with family and friends. I am going to keep the Word Press blog because it has some really good tools and I can receive blogging lessons every day in my e-mail. I love the interaction with other bloggers. My hope is to be able to set down once a week and talk about the kind of things that interest you and me and to develop a following.

Until next week I am,

In His Grip

Donnie Jo

Turkey Frame Soup and Red Hot Peppers.


I was about to just strip a left over turkey to the bone, and use the meat for sandwiches or turkey salad, somewhat like chicken salad with the grapes and nuts, when I remembered that someone had told me that they always used their turkey carcass to make soup.

Fortunately for me, Betty Crocker had the recipe.  The first part of making the soup is almost finished and it smells so very good.

Speaking of turkey sandwiches, try this:

Lettuce, tomatoe, turkey, (could be from the deli) bacon, and avacodo. This is great on a crousant or sour dough bread.  Use your favorite sandwhich spread. You don’t even have to put this on bread.  It would be nice wrapped in your favorite lettuce.  I use romain.  Yummy!

Last night I knew that I had to do something with all the jalapeno peppers that I had.  Some were from my garden and some were from the Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op basket.  The ones from my garden turned red this year.  This summers heat just made everything in the garden develop faster.  I think that the peppers thought they had been on the vine longer than they actually had been on the vine.

The green jalapeno were a nice size, bigger than what I usually get out of my garden.  I diced, vacuum packed, and froze them.   I have some red pepper flakes on my spice rack but they are getting kind of old so I decided to get out the dehydrator and dry the red jalapenos. it was at this time that I remembered that a person should always remember to wear rubber gloves when handling hot peppers.  I washed my hands really well and then put on the gloves.  I cut the red jalapenos in half and deseeded them and put them on the dehydrator.  I cleaned up the prep area and took off the gloves.  At this time I was a little hungry so I found and cracker and put it in my mouth.  HOT , not the cracker; my hands.  There is still residual hot pepper oil in the skin on my hands. Parts of one hand feel like the kind of burn you would get if you forgot to use a pot holder to pick up a hot pan. The corner of my mouth feels like it was burned with a match.

Whoever said, wear rubber gloves when working with hot peppers, was right.

It is time to go finish the Turkey Frame Soup. I’ll let you know how it turned out.  I do tend to tweak recipes that I find in cook books, so if you would like the recipe for this soup, just leave me a comment and let me know!  I’ll get it to you tonight or tomorrow.  Of course if you have a Betty Crocker cookbook, you probably already have the recipe, that is of course depending on what version of the book you have at your house.

Till next time God Bless You and Yours,

In His Grip,

Donnie

 

Fried Green Tomatoes- 2 Recipes


September 30, 2012

I had recently purchased some nice medium to large green tomatoes from the farmers market.  My plan was to make that great southern dish- fried green tomatoes.  I can never say or write those 3 little words without thinking of the movie.  I kept procrastinating about making the recipe because I am the only person in my house that would probably ever eat them. I love veggies, my husband loves Big Mac’s hold the cheese.  However while I was at the Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op distribution site this Saturday, a lady told me how you could prepare them as if you were going to fry them but instead of frying them you could freeze them.  The easy instructions for freezing are included following the Betty Crocker recipe.

Now Paula Deen has a great recipe for fried green tomatoes also.  Her’s is the second recipe included here.

Fried Green Tomatoes – Betty Crocker

This summertime classic is a great way to fix the surplus tomatoes from your garden.

Prep: 10 min. Cook: 8 min. per batch

Stand: 15 min. Makes: 6 servings

3 medium firm tomatoes

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup milk

2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or cornmeal

¼ Cup cooking oil

1. Cut unpeeled tomatoes into ½- inch slices; sprinkle slices with the salt and pepper. Let tomato slices stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs, and bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes.

2. Dip tomato slice in milk, then flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs or cornmeal, coating both sides. In a skillet fir the coated tomato slices, half at a time, in hot oil over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes on each side or until brown. (If tomatoes begin to brown too quickly, reduce heat to medium low. If necessary, add additional oil.) If desired, season to taste with additional salt and pepper.

I added Tones Garlic and Herb seasoning to the flour. You might like to add Italian, or Mexican Seasoning or a favorite seasoning of your own as you are frying the tomatoes.

You can also freeze this recipe. Bread the tomatoes, then cover a jelly roll pan or cookie pan with a piece of waxed paper, or spray with Pam and lay the tomatoes on it, place it in the freezer until the tomatoes are frozen solid and then put them in freezer bags.

Fried Green Tomatoes – Paula Deen’s

Serves 6

I just love to read my Paula Deen Cook Books. I have 4 of them. Talk about Southern Cookin’! I found this recipe in The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook.

I glance through this book for a few minutes and the next thing you know, I am in the kitchen trying out a recipe.

You would not want to freeze this recipe. Paula notes that her grand-mother always used cornmeal, but she prefers flour. The self-rising flour will puff up just beautifully.

It would be hard to find a recipe for fried green tomatoes that would be much simpler than this.

3 or 4 large, firm green tomatoes

Salt

2 cups self-rising flour or cornmeal

1 to 2 tsps. Pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Slice tomatoes to desired thickness9 (1 prefer mine thin). Lay out on a pan and sprinkle with salt. Place in colander and allow time for salt to pull the water out of the tomatoes. Mix flour with pepper, coat tomatoes with flour mixture and deep-fry until just golden brown.

What a Weekend.


Saturday I decided that I just had to go for a walk.  As anyone who reads this blog knows, I am walking to get healthy and to lose weight.  My motto is becoming, I Am Going To Live Long and Finish Strong.   Anyway it was about 9:30 a.m. and I set out to walk a couple of miles.  It was about 11:45 when I realized that I was pretty far from home and decided to try to find a quicker route home.  Oops, that was not a good idea.  I was headed in the right direction but was on a street that was just one big horse shoe.   I was closed to being lost, but knew that I could find my way home, albeit not in time to get to the Bountiful Baskets distribution site in time to volunteer to unload the truck and set up the site to hand out the baskets.

Thank goodness that I had my cell phone and that my husband was home! ! At 12:10 I called him to rescue me. He was there in 5 minutes. I walked thru the door to my house and grabbed my car keys and headed over to the distribution site.  Volunteers were supposed to be there at 12:30.  I was three or four minutes late.

When I arrived at the Bountiful Basket Food Co-op distribution site to volunteer and pick up my basket, I was suprised that besides my self, there was only one other volunteer and the lady that runs the site.  The volunteers have one hour to unload the truck, put out over 180 baskets, (that is one basket with vegies and one with fruit for every order turned in- about 90 orders),  fill the baskets with produce, and set up tables for those who order extra items.

Everything could done in that hour if the volunteers showed up like they should and on time. There should be 10 people to meet the truck and begin the process of all that it takes to be ready to give out the baskets. A few more people did show up to help after we had been there for 20 minutes.

On a more personal level, for those who did not see the following on my Face Book or at 60ish Great Grandma & Loving It , please read the following.

For all of you people who complained that it took so long to get your basket, SHAME ON YOU!! You know that every bit of this program is ran by volunteers.  The $15, you pay for about $50 worth of produce goes to get you the good deals.

The rest is volunteer.  You all know that all of you are supposed to take your turn at volunteering.  Thanks to all of you that continually do not volunteer this site is in danger of closing down! Is that what you want, it’s not what I want.  This food co-op is a blessing to all of us who participate and to our community as a whole. Participation is all that is required of you to be a member of this co-op. Maybe you forget that.  Week after week this site has been struggleling  because of lack of volunteers.  I fully understand that some of you can’t volunteer because of health issues, or time constraints. However, those of you can volunteer should try to volunteer at least now and then.  Just think, the more volunteers there are, the sooner everyone gets to go home. That’s much better than standing in line for an hour in the hot sun.

Maybe what I just described isn’t happening at your destribution site or at any site in your community.  That is great. That is how it should be.  However if you see it starting to happen, please get a grip right away.

Now on to something a little more positive.

It Was a Cookin’ Weekend

The best of the crabapples from the tree in my front yard ended up in 9 jars of jelly.  It is beautiful and yummy.  I might make some more this coming weekend.  There was good sized zuchinni in my Bountiful Basket and it ended up in 8 mini loafs of zuchinni bread.  Did you know that you can substitute apples for the zuchinni when making this bread. I just might do that today with all the apples that I have left from this weeks and last weeks baskets.

I have also been blanching and freezing the carrots, broccoli and sweet potatoes that were in the last couple of baskets. My freezers are getting really full. I’ll  probably quit buying canned food at the store, unless I need something to complete a recipe.  We are certainly eating healthier foods since we joined Bountiful Baskets.

Collard Greens? They came in my Bountiful Basket this week.  Yes,  you guessed it, I have never had them before.  All of the best recipes on the internte for collard greens seem to be something that I should stay away from.  Most of them have bacon and bacon grease.  Great for flavor.  Bad for my diet.  Oh well, I could cut back some where else, or maybe walk an extra couple of miles.

Someone also said that if you know how to make Kale Chips, then you can make Collard Chips.  I made Kale chips a few weeks ago.  Sad to say, no one else in the house got any.  Type Kale Chips in your search bar, you will find plenty of recipes for them. The basic recipe is the same, the flavorings are different.

I apolgize for the negativity regarding Bountiful Baskets and volunteering.  It’s just that this is such a good program for all of the communites in all of the states, countys,  and towns around our country that I just had to speak up.  We need to keep things like this.  Especially in today’s economy.

Please remember, I know as do the leaders with Bountiful Baskets that not everyone who particpates in the program can volunteer due to circumstances beyond their control. However if you can, you should.

Until next time,

God bless and keep you and yours.

Donnie

It’s Fall and That Means Home Made Soup


Featuring . . . . 

Cabbage Soup

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall.  Already!? When I think about fall, I conjur up pictures of big pots of soup, hot rolls and maybe a salad. I found the following recipe in a Taste of Home magazine that featured soups and sandwiches.  I think that is one magazine that will become a goto coffee table book.

I tried this recipe last night and was so glad that there were left overs tonight.  Husband is out of town and since I loved this soup so much I didn’t have any problems with having it again tonight. It lived up to that old adage that sometimes good foods, especially soups and stews are better the second day.

If you enjoy this recipe you might want to check out Taste of Home. In my opinion, the recipes that I find in my Taste of Home magazines and at their web site can all be considered comfort food.

Cabbage Soup

1 medium head cabbage, chopped

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

8 or 9 cups water to cover cabbage, celery and onion.

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1 teaspoon Bouillon granules

1 tablespoon salt (I used to tsps..)

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 ½ pounds ground beef browned and drained (I used 90/ 10 mix)

1 russet potato, chopped small.  The original recipe does not call for the potato, I added it for just a bit more substance, and also for the starch that slightly thickens the soup.

2 cans (15 ounces each) tomato sauce

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1 tablespoon brown sugar

¼ cup ketchup

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In Dutch oven or large sauce pot, cook the cabbage, celery and onion in water until tender.

Add the bouillon, salt, pepper, beef and tomato sauce, bring to a boil; reduce heat and Simmer 10 minutes.

Stir in the brown sugar and ketchup; simmer another 10 minutes or until heated through.

If you make this soup, try to refrain from adding any more to it, at least the first time around.  You really should try it just once as it is to get the real simple yet hearty good taste.  Then next time you make it you might want to  experiment with adding other vegies like a can of corn or a can of Rotel tomatoes with mild chilis, even some zucchini  or green beans, or just a whole bunch of vegetables at once.

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine that featured soups and sandwiches.  You can click on this link and find many wonderful recipes.

Yield: 16 to 20 servings

Nutrition facts: 1 Cup equals 80 calories (Bet you can’t eat just one cup!), 3 g fat, (1 g saturated fat) 17 mg cholesterol, 567 mg sodium, 6g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 7 g protein.

This works so well with my Weight Watchers program.

We Welcome Your Feed Back

If you liked this recipe, please let me know.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you would like to share. We would love have you show case it on our web site.

If I get enough guest recipes, I will dedicate a page just for the guest to show case their recipes.

Still have questions? Please leave a comment anytime! We look forward to hearing from you.

Working on Walking


September 20, 2012

A week ago this last Saturday, I woke up with a cold. It wasn’t too bad for a few days, then it got really bad. Now I am getting over it.  Anyway… I didn’t walk for a whole week. That really cuts into the goal of walking 10,000 steps a day to make 300,000 steps per month.

Finally, I got to walk on Tuesday and Wednesday; fell 1,000 steps
short of my daily goal. At least I was moving. Couldn’t get out today, but
certainly hope to make it tomorrow.

As a result of laying around, I think I may have slowed down on losing any weight. That’s okay, I’ll just have to catch up. And I will. My anniversery is just 6 days away and I wanted to get down to 135 pounds. If I don’t, that’s okay. At least I am not 156. My scale just keeps jumping a notch either side of 138.

I could starve myself for the next week and walk 6 or 7 miles a day and reach 135 by September 26. That is not healthy and I would probably gain it all back in a week. I want to meet my goals the healthiest way possible.

The title of my Weight Watchers blog is:

60ish Great Grandma Desires Great Health!
You don’t get great health by abusing your body or starving it. I have to have great health. I want to be healthy for me, but I also want to be healthy for my family.

As I have said many times before, I want to me more than someone that they occasionly hear some of the family mention. I want to leave a memory for them that makes a statement, a statement that they will remember and repeat often;
“Grandma sure did love us.” I need to live and be healthy for a long,
long time so that they really get to know me.

If that is in anyway selfish, then so be it. I want to get to know them and watch them grow and mature. They are so special. My youngest great grandson, doesn’t live here, and I haven’t seen him yet. He will be 7 months old next week. I hope to see him soon. I want us to know each other.

So, I’ll be walking tomorrow, hopefully shedding a few ounces, and adding a few days to my life span.

Till next time,
God Bless you and yours,
Donnie

Bountiful Baskets


Beautiful Basket Full

Today was Bountiful Basket Saturday. I couldn’t wait to pick up my basket
today. It was just awesome. There are lots of great fruits and vegetables. I’ll
be very busy this week finding ways to use them all. I haven’t even used the ones
that I got last week. I am sure that I am going to end up freezing some of them.
There is just me and my husband in our home now and as beautiful, healthy, and
tasty has all these fruits and vegetables are, there is just no way that we can
eat this much before they start to go bad. If I can’t find time to prepare them
for the freezer. I’ll share with the kids and grandkids before I will let them go
to waste.

My morning began with a feeling of expectancy. I knew that today I would be going to pick up my basket of fruits and vegetables from the Bountiful Basket Food Co-op.  I could hardly wait for 8:30, that’s when I leave the house to make sure that I get to the distribution sight by 8:45. Last week was the first time I got a basket and it felt like Christmas in September.  I could hardly wait to see what we got this week. I was so blessed, this week the baskets were being distributed at the school just a block away from our house.  The baskets are only distributed at that school every other week.

Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op uses all volunteer help; that’s how they keep the cost of the baskets so low. It’s just $15 a basket. Each basket has about 6 different vegetables and 6 different fruits. There are family size portions of each of the different fruits and vegetables. It’s not rare that a basket will weigh in close to fifty pounds. Getting a Bountiful Basket means getting the finest quality, as good if not better than what you will find at your local grocery store.

I love the volunteer aspect of the program.  It was just a couple of weeks ago that I mentioned to my husband that I would like to find some way to volunteer that would benefit my community and that would work with my schedule.  The good Lord must have listened in on that conversation, because it was only a couple of days later that I heard about this food co-op.  I went online to research the program.  The more I read the better it sounded. I read their blog and found them on FaceBook. The more I read the more excited that I got. Whoever was posting anything about them, sounded excited to be a part of the co-op. On both the blog and FaceBook  I found recipes that I could use to prepare the various food items.

This week there were 94 people that got baskets, some got 2 or 3 baskets.  By the way, 3 is the limit. There is a little bit of work involved in getting that many baskets ready for distribution.  The truck has to be unloaded, the boxes carted or carried into the school and the inventory checked to see if it all tallies up.  For every basket that someone has ordered, the volunteers will actually need to set out 2 baskets, one for the fruits and one for the vegetables. Once the baskets are all lined up in rows the volunteers begin filling them.  Every basket gets the same amount of the produce.  The volunteers have one hour to get all that done.

Beside the baskets there are extra item that you can order.  This week we could have bread, or flats of strawberry, trail mix, Coconut Oil, or the Italian vegie pack. The extra items are never the exact same every week.

It takes about an hour to give out all the baskets and about another half hour to clean up. It feels more like fun than work. Just knowing that you have done something that helps families be able to get more for less is a very rewarding feeling.

Before I go, let me tell you what I got in my basket.   Vegetables– Romaine lettuce, , broccoli , English cucumber, radishes, yams, carrots and green peppers. Fruits– oranges, apples, plumbs, bananas, and watermelon.

In the Italian pack there was: zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, a couple of large sweet onions and a large red onion, oregano, basil, parsley, and rosemary.