Green Bean Casserole Cups

 I saw this on Facebook and will be making it for Thanksgiving dinner. I am placing it her to remember and share it. You can search the web and find it on other pages also. They specify Ritz crackers. But, I am using just a snack cracker available in my area. HiHo cracker were my favorite when I lived in St. Louis. I do not find them here. So, one must make due with what you can get.
May you all who read the enjoy it.
I will post photos when I make it. 

Green Bean Casserole Cups

 

Servings: 6 Muffins

Ingredients

One sleeve snack crackers
2½ cup condensed mushroom soup
1 cup french fried onions
2 cups chopped green beans
¾ cup cheddar cheese
½ cup milk
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Steps

Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C.
Place snack crackers and ½ cup french fried onions in food processor. Reserve 3 crackers and the other ½ cup of french fried onions. Pulse the mixture to form a fine crumb.
Add ½ cup of mushroom soup, pulse until combined. The texture should be pliable. If too dry add more soup, if too wet add more crackers.
Take a spoonful of the mixture and mold it into a muffin tin.
In a bowl, combine green beans, cheese, remaining soup, and french fried onions. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Scoop the mixture into the cracker cups.
Crush the reserved snack and top each muffin.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Enjoy!

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

How to make your own jiffy/quick cornbread mix

 This is the way I do it. 

You can customize this the way you like it.

To make the mix combine all the dry ingredients
Mix 1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flower
add 1 table spoon of baking soda or powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
Note you can leave the sugar out if you prefer or add more

 When you are ready to make corn bread
add 1/2 stick butter  Melted or cut up
1 egg
Start with 1cuk milk. add up to to 2 cups milk to create a consistency of what you saw in the video. It will be a little thicker than pancake mix.

Grease cast iron pan or 8 or 9 in pan Preheat oven to 400f or 204 c bake 20 -30 min
.Test by inserting a fork. If it comes out clean it is done. You can change this recipe to 2 cups corn meal 1 cup flour for a thicker bread. Yellow corn tastes better and needs less milk and sugar. You can change any part of this to make it better for your corn. I grease the pan with butter or lard bake till to starts to brown. around 20-30 minuets temperature (424 f or 218 Celsius )
Top with butter or honey to eat


.

This is better than a Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix Copycat mix.

Simply use the dry ingredients from your normal recipe and add wet ingredients when you are ready to use. 

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Cabage roll recipe

Hi, friends! Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been posting on my facebook page about my cats for a year now. And I think there page https://www.facebook.com/RebaSilk  may soon end. It's not much fun any more. So I am spending more time on youtube. Mostly garden videos. And now a bit of cooking. This is how I make cabbage roles with out the role. LOL

I may start writing again. The summer is almost over. So I will have more time to write.
Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Day 2 Green tea fat burner & whats new for dinner.

 Please note. This is not a paid add. I purchased this on my own.

I am on day 2 of trying new things to add to our diet. And taking a diet  supplement, I bought from W..mart.. I purchased both the mega for $4.48 (30 pills) and the regular  "green tea fat burner"  For $9.98 (90ct)
 Fast-relief liquid soft gels Contains green tea extract, ECGC, caffeine, chromium picolate and Advantra Z.

 We are trying the regular one first.

 I found some good info at Supplement-Geek.com 

When I read about
Chromium may help blood sugar levels in those with diabetes,
I though I would try it on my husband. So far so good
 I am happy so far with improvements in my husband. He has lost 6 pounds so far. And tonight his glucose level was 110, Yea! 2 good days in a row
____________________________________________________.

 Tonight I made lentils, spaghetti squash and spinach . I used my home made pasta sauce and 1 meat ball for hubby.

 I found this tasted the best mixed altogether. I am not a big fan of veggies. My husband is now diabetic so we have to change our diet from Heart healthy to less fast carbohydrates. I am making a diary of sorts here,. To record what worked for weight loss and controlling hubbys glucose levels. So he will not start taking meds. I am not an expert. So please seek medical advice before trying diet pills.

So I am going to try to loose some weight too. Wish me luck. :)

 Good links where I found enough reason to buy this product.

Green Tea frenzy
Web MD


This is a list of
12 Power foods to Beat Diabetes


Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

yule log

This yule log painting is a gift for you from my grandson Jeremy. You can say he taught me something new.With that knowledge I created this painting.

It is done with a knife tool, changing the curvature. It looks like a trowel, and would be a tool used in oil painting. Kids are so smart.

So for my virtual gift to you my friends on this 6th day of Dec.
I share the above art and Pizza roll ups.

They look like the yule cake as in rolled up way, but they are a meal.

Ingredients
Bread dough home made or thawed from the freezer.

meat of your choice. Peperoni, cooked burger etc.
shredded pizza cheese
1 can tomato paste
and other ingredient you like (onion, green pepper, etc)
Italian season
teaspoon of sugar
a pinch of fennel is good.

roll out the dough in 1 large rectangle like 8x12
take the tomato paste and stir in the sugar, it cuts the tartness.

or use your favorite spaghetti sauce.

spread on to dough, use only enough to cover lightly , leaving a little more than an inch from outside edge of dough.
sprinkle season, meat, veggie, cheese.
start on the shortest side and roll up the dough
lay on a cookie sheet with all seems down, tuck under each end. cut diagonal slits to vent the top
get your hand wet with water and pat the top. sprinkle with a bit of salt.
cook in preheated oven at 375.
Check on it in 30-45 min depends on oven,
it is like cooking a loaf of bread
let set it a bit before slicing.

or make this in smaller individual sizes. like hot pockets.
You can change this in so many ways by changing what you put inside.
Ideals
roast beef & cheese with a sprinkle of Italian dressing.
cooked chicken and veggie use a bit of soup for the sauce.
any thing you think would be good inside of bread.
just don't add to much liquid in sauce

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Oh how sweet!

Todays gift is yummy!
This is life on the cloud. When stress get a hold of you.
Sit back relax. Pretend you are floating on a cloud.
Take a few deep breath and awe, relax.
Stretch you legs . tell your body to relax.
Stretch and relax from head to toe.
Now float off on top of the clouds.
Life is good.
When you feel all caged up. Imagine that cloud
Is a whoopie pie, Take big hand fulls of it and nibble.then relax in the marshmallow cream.
_____________________When all else fails make whoopie. ______________________

Whoopie Pies Recipe

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 cup evaporated milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup marshmallow creme

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
2. To Make Cookie Crusts: In a large mixing bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter or margarine and white sugar. Add egg, evaporated milk, and vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Add flour mixture slowly to sugar mixture while stirring. Mix just until all ingredients are combined.
3. Drop the dough onto greased cookie sheet by rounded tablespoonfuls. Leave at least 3 inches in between each one; dough will spread as it bakes.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 6 to 8 minutes, until firm when pressed with finger. Allow to cool at least one hour before filling.
5. To Make Marshmallow Filling: In a medium mixing bowl, blend together 1/2 cup butter or margarine, confectioners' sugar, flavored extract, and marshmallow creme. Mix until smooth. Assemble pies by spreading 1 to 2 tablespoonfuls of filling on flat side of a cookie crust, then covering filling with flat side of another cookie crust. .
Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Turkey day at my house

I have been getting things ready for Turkey time.
As it will be our family gathering at my house.
I found a turkey roaster oven for only $20.00 at WM
So Now my oven is free for all the goodies. Yummy.
I am already tired and they day has not started yet

The menu is Turkey lol
We found buy a ham get a turkey free
I will be making my version of

potato salad.

Chuck cut potatoes leave skin on.
Place in large pan of water
add Greek seasoning & kosher salt
boil till soft maybe 30 min
Add broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, and / or
Mediterranean blend of frozen veggies
cook another 10-15 min till tender.
remove water add cheese broccoli soup and milk
Heat another 3-5 min.



My Friend Miki sent me this on Myspace. I just had to share it.

MAKING & CANING Applesauce

THIS IS ANOTHER
DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO POST.

SO GET READY TO LAUGH AT ME,

If you are new to my blog. You need to know.
I am learning to live a simple life.
I am learning to be a greener person.
I am learning to can & preserve.
I am learning to live off the land and shop local.
But you can learn from my mistakes.
This is my first adventure in making applesauce
and my 3 rd attempt in caning.
1.I have canned one time with my sister in law.
We made peach jelly and froze the peaches. about 20 years ago.LOL
2. I made my own nectarine jelly by my self this year.

Now that you have my resume.
Here is my story.
It is so much easier to have a person who knows what they are doing teach you.
But it looks like a piece of cake. Till you do it by your self the first few times.
First I need to say:
Thank you to { R & V fARMSTEAD.} She posted step by step how she did her apple sauce for me.
This is how I started last night.
Washed the apples used the core and cut tool. Then placed the apples in a pan of watter with a solution of 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 gallon of water and a few dashes of lemon juice. To keep apple flesh from turning brown

By the end the apples were floating above the water so I put a lid with weight to hold them down, while I took a break. This was a 1/2 bushel of apples. And I needed to read again what to do next. .

I learned the hard way have every thing set up.
Set up includes.
Have all pots you need ready.
on the stove.
1.caner with water boiling
2. pan to cook apples in.
3.pan to boil jars. or have them in dish washer to sterilize.
4. pan with water to boil lids and rings
Have the food processor ready
Have the tools to remove hot jar
Have some heat protection for you hands.
Have towels hot pads etc.

Cooking was just add then to boiling water for 6 minuets.

OK now I am rested I will skip to the processing as
cooking the apple sauce was the easy part .
Use a slotted spoon to transfer apples to processor
Remember to leave the spout open to vent the hot apples.
I processed them on speed #2 about 1-2 min.till they were the consistency I wanted.

I ended up with 2 of these bowls full that is 16 cups or 4 litre's or 4 qt's or 8 pints.
At the time I was doing this I was so overwhelmed. I did not figure this out right.
Her recipe was ( a cup of sugar to five quarts of sauce.)
I am not going to tell you how much sugar I used.
Next time: I will not use any sugar so it can be stained and used for my daughters new baby due in Jan 09.


Now for the canning process.
R & V Farmstead uses a pressure caner. So I have a new never used one.
I got out the instructions to use step by step for this caner and there was a
Warning on {#3 of 13 warnings} {NEVER COOK APPLESAUCE, CRANBERRIES, ETC IN A PRESSURE COOKER. THESE FOODS TEND TO FOAM, FROTH, AND SPUTTER, AND CAN PLUG THE VENT TUBE.}
SO with my mind not working. I looked up water bath caning on the web to find that you process them in a water bath for 15 min for pints. 20 min for qt's.
I FAILED TO UNDERSTAND THIS WAS ABOUT MAKING APPLE SAUCE NOT CANNING. DUH
IF I ONLY HAD A BRAIN.

I was successful with this adventure but.

It was ouch owl ooh hot.{?.,;'.,l;/'//,;l;}That part was at the end when I used the lifter to get the hot jars out of the water.The lifter will not fit on the first jar or I do not know how to get them out . So I used tongs to light and grab with lifter.. So of course I was not good with the left hand. I had some fall back in water. I grabbed one with my bare hand to save it. wh wh wh. Then I grabbed the inside rack that had some of the jars removed it was aaaa

Now if you want to do this the right way refer back here for cautions and avoid mistakes.

Go to { R & V fARMSTEAD.} to use a pressure cooker to can.

I WOULD LIKE TO GIVE R& V HOMESTEAD AN AWARD FOR ALL THERE INSPIRATION AND HELP
CLICK HERE TO CLAIM YOUR AWARD ON MY IT'S GREEN DAY BLOG. THANKS

But you can open and save this pdf file on how to do it with a water bath canner.

Conclusion
Was it worth it.
YES, it will be better next time.
I know this is organic.No chemicals added.
WITH THE OVERDOSE OF SUGAR I USED. I WILL NEED LESS IN MAKING APPLE CAKE OR BREAD WITH THEM, LOL.
I WILL BE VERY PROUD WHEN THIS IS USED.
KNOWING I PUT LABOR,SWEAT, BURNS, MIND LOSS, HOURS OF LEARNING & LOVE, IN EACH JAR. THEY ARE PRICELESS MEMORY'S OF OCT 18, 2008

I had hubby try it he said it was good just need a bit of cinnamon.

Hello Fall

Happy Bloomin Tuesday

My garden gnomes are going to sleep for the winter.
So not may more blooms will be around soon.
They leave me with a dandelion.
And plenty of weeds.

My hostas show fall is here.
They are sprinkled with leaves that will
comfort and protect them for the winter.

My veggie garden is ready to be put to sleep
only lettuce, peppers, marigolds, basil, Nasturtiums & a few grape tomatoes are left.

Nasturtiums are great garden companions and are edible flowers.
They helped to cut down on bugs that hurt the veggies.


Cinnamon Basil
This was a life saver for my corn.
No bug damage at all.
Soon I will dry the leaves for cooking.
And save the seed for next year.
The leaves have a cinnamon-like taste and odor.

Oh what beautiful white yarrow
This was a gift from my daughters yard.


To save money this year I bought allot of seed rather than plants.
I had no Ideal this plant would be almost as tall as the sun flower. And I do not remember its name.
Good by summer Hello Fall.

To see other Bloomin' Tuesday posts or to join in on the fun, go to
Jean's at Ms. Green Thumb

Cinnamon Basil apple Muffins

1/4 cup fresh cinnamon basil leaves
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 of an apple shredded

Puree cinnamon basil leaves with oil in blender. Combine with sugar and egg. Sift together flour and baking powder and add to oil mixture, then fold in remaining ingredients.

Bake at 400°F for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 12 regular sized muffins or six large muffins.

Our current home.

This is our current home. It was a fixer upper we bought in about 2000-01 . We had to redo all plumbing, electric and roof 's etc. We removed almost all walls. This was quit an under taking. This house was bought to fix up for vacation or retirement. In Jan of 2006 My hubby had bypass surgery. So We sold every thing in St. Louis and moved here before it was completed.We still need some electrical work. some walls. some ceilings and a wall in the bathroom. With our health it is not as easy as it use to be, or get things done as fast. I have learned to live with base board electric heat, and a pro pain fire place.

What has been hard is to garden knowing there can be snakes. I had to make my self get over it this spring. I really wanted a veggie garden. With all the rain. it did not do so well. But the corn turned out great. I have yellow squash, zucchini, tomato's, bell peppers, lettuce, green beans, cucumbers.







link to more of my garden and other pictures on Mother earth news.
http://cu.motherearthnews.com/pages/user_detail.php?user=144572

My corn harvest of 2008


Here is an easy zucchini cake .
INGREDIENTS:
* 1/2 cup pecans,crushed or chopped.
* 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (about 1 medium zucchini)
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 2 teaspoons vanilla
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350°. In a mixing bowl, combine oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, baking powder. mix on medium speed,until ingredients are blended, or about 30 seconds.
Add flour; mix until moistened. Stir in nuts and zucchini. Pour batter into a greased 8x8 pan . Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean.
use like it is or add a cream cheese icing on top. it tastes wonderful.