Munchie Monday: Blueberry Crumble

We were going to share Christmas dinner with the full time senior missionaries with everyone bringing something.  We brought spinach balls, cashew queso, and this Blueberry Crumble.

Blueberry Crumble
4 cups fresh blueberries or 16 ounces frozen blueberries
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons corn starch

Topping
3/4 cup quick cooking flaked oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter

In a good-sized bowl place the blueberries and lemon juice and toss them well.  In a small bowl mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar and cornstarch.  Sprinkle over the berries and mix well.  Place in a greased 8 by 8 glass pan.

In a large bowl mix the oatmeal, 1/2 cup flour and brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the butter.

Sprinkle over the berries.

Bake in the preheated 350 degrees F. until the topping is slightly brown and the blueberries are bubbling.  This should take about 40 minutes...maybe more.

When I made it, I doubled the recipe in a 9 by 13 pan.  And did a really dumb thing. The recipe calls for fresh or frozen blueberries.  When it says frozen blueberries, it does not mean to COOK the frozen blueberries.  YOU SHOULD LET THE BLUEBERRIES THAW BEFORE STARTING!!  Duh!!!  Because I used frozen berries, it took more than an hour to cook well.  It did cook finally though.

This picture shows the blueberry crumble before placing in the oven.  The cooked crumble did not last very long...and I forgot to take a picture of the leftovers....It really was tasty.

Food Friday: Homemade Hashed Browns

Recently Elder and Sister C brought us a set of Titan Stainless Steel Peeler/Julienne tools.  Elder C uses the peeler to peel carrots and brings them to the office to eat.  These tools work great!

My first project was to use the julienne peeler to julienne half a red potato which I made into hashed brown since Dear One is a really big fan of eating hashed browns.

While I was using the julienner to cut half the potato, I set a small frying pan heating on the stove with a little olive oil and butter to melt.  By the time the grease was ready, so were the juliennes.  I spread them in the pan and let them cook on medium high for about five minutes.

After five minutes I flipped them over and smushed them down with a spatula.  After five more minutes I pulled them out and put them on Dear One's plate.  He loved them with a little salt and catsup.

They looked good enough that I was sorry I had only made one serving.  Maybe next time.

Watercolor Card with Deerfoot Brush

The other day I wanted to send a card.  I brought the 3/8th inch deerfoot brush to work.  Over lunch I worked on a little watercolor painting.  This is what I painted.

 Not fabulous, but fun.  It is time to get back to painting, I think.

The Move is Coming Along!!

It is so good to have everything in one apartment now.  It is even better that on Christmas Eve, before we went out to dinner with a wonderful returned-missionary-senior-couple, we finished emptying the hallway and behind-the-couch of moved in stuff.  Now it is all in just one room.  Or given away.  Or put in the tiny, and I mean TINY, storage closet on the "patio" outside the French doors.  Or thrown away.  I have some hope that I can finish up the move in before the new year.  At least that is the plan. Transfers being next week may make a difference...at least mentally!  (And you will notice I used the pronoun "I" about finishing the move.  Dear One has done his part.  And then some.  And frankly, most of the stuff in the study belongs to  the author, sad to say, so I really should be the cleaner-outer/cleaner-upper...

Here is the evidence!  I love love love having the hallway not an obstacle course.  Last week I participated in a Safety in the Workplace class online and was rather distressed by the non-safety in our own house.  Now I can walk from the bedroom to the living room/kitchen/dining room without fear of tripping over something.  Even in the middle of the night with no lights on.  Bonus!

Now to get working on the study...Maybe tonight.

Quick and easy Christmas 3-ingredient fudge

Recently some recipe bloggers sent me emails.  This is not always a good thing.  In this case it was okay because I was wondering how to use up some ingredients we had in the kitchen. (I think that is going to be the whole food emphasis for the next six months--how do I use up everything in the cupboards...).

In this case the recipe devil was about 3-Ingredient Fudge.  I thought I could kill two birds with one stone by making the fudge and giving it as gifts.  Score!

Peanut Butter 3-Ingredient Fudge

3 cups vanilla baking chips
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup peanut butter

Prepare a glass 8 by 8 baking pan by covering it with aluminum foil then lightly spray with vegetable spray.  Set aside.

According to the recipe, all ingredients go into a large microwave-safe bowl.  Stir a little then microwave on high for 1 minute.  Bring out and stir.  Return to microwave for 1 more minute.  Remove and stir.  Repeat this until all the ingredients are smooth.  In this case, I had to return the mixture to the microwave  until it had cooked 5 minutes.

Pour the melted and smooth sweetness into the prepared pan.  Smooth with an off-set spatula and let cool completely on the counter.  When completely cool. cut into pieces and enjoy.

Because this seemed successful, I tried the chocolate fudge.

Chocolate 3-Ingredient Fudge (I think I found this on Lauren's Latest blog)

3 cups semi-sweet baking chips
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
30 or so York's peppermint patties

In a glass baking dish--8 by 8 is what I used--place unwrapped peppermint patties to completely cover the bottom of the pan which you have covered with aluminum foil which you spray lightly with vegetable spray.  Cut some of the patties in half so you can get coverage all the way to the edges.

Put the milk and chocolate chips in a large microwave-safe bowl in the microwave and heat on high for one minute.  Remove from oven and stir well.  Return to microwave for 1 more minute then remove and stir until smooth.  This only took the 2 minutes to be completely melted and smooth.

Pour the melted chocolate over the peppermint patties and smooth the top.  Let cool completely on the counter.  Cut into pieces and enjoy.

Because I was using up things, and had some 4-ounce Ball quilted jelly glasses, I used a cleaned tomato paste can with both ends cut out for a cutter.  The large round piece of fudge fit perfectly into the jelly jar!

If I should ever make the peanut butter fudge again, I will only put in the milk and chips in the bowl to microwave, then when they are melted, I will stir in the peanut butter and see how it goes.  It is my impression that 5 minutes in the microwave was too much, though even then, I could not get every smidgen of white chocolate melted and stirred smooth.  But...I am unlikely to make this candy again. All that sugar is a bad idea.  For just about everyone.  And besides--"real" peanut butter fudge is so much better in taste and texture, though this does work in a pinch.

Merry Christmas to all!  May your day be filled with love and light and may the new year bring you joy.

New Taste for Creamy Cheese-y Pasta!

In the back of the cupboard I found an opened package of Number 8 Spaghetti last night.  I knew we had some sharp cheddar, some mozzarella, and some Parmesan cheese as well as milk, butter, and flour so I decided to make some pasta for supper.

To make the white sauce I used 4 Tablespoons of butter, which I melted in a medium stainless steel saucepan.  When it was mostly melted I added 1/3 cup of flour and stirred until combined.  Now I added 2 cups of dairy milk and stirred with a whisk until it was smooth then added another cup or more of milk and let it thicken while whisking.

With the white sauce  nearly cooked and the spaghetti cooking in a large pot of well-salted water,  I started dumping in seasonings.  These are the ones I used:

Dried parsley--1 1/2 teaspoons
Granulated chicken bouillon--a rounded half-teaspoon
Benson's Salt Free Seasoning--as I write this away from the kitchen, I think it was their Mediterranean seasoning--about 1 teaspoon
SMOKED Paprika--1 teaspoon

With the seasoning in I started adding clumps of shredded cheese.  There was probably 1/3 cup of the sharp cheddar.  When I opened the bag of mozzarella I was sorry to see that it was pretty colorful so I put it in the trash.  Sad.  Well, I don't usually put mozzarella in white sauce anyway, so it was just as well.  The Parmesan had a tiny spot of color which I disposed of then pulled out a large handful and plopped it into the sauce.  At the bottom of the package was more color but it was too late by that time to re-think.  Well, I am pretty sure there was no mold that got into the sauce, but I would not stake my life on it...

When this was all added and well stirred, and the pasta was cooked and drained, I put them together back in the large pasta pot and stirred well.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!!  I think the smoked paprika made the difference.

Moving is No Darn Fun...

How I admire people who move house with equanimity!  I am not one of those people, sad to say.  When I went to get boxes for the move, there were none.  I had never been to that store before and asked for boxes without being given way more than we needed.  This time, no dice.  And no time or energy to find other places with boxes to give away.

So...Dear One has been using garbage bags.

The entire hallway from the second bedroom/study (you will note I am NOT calling it the work room this time...) all the way to the kitchen door and into the living room.  At the very end you can see the air conditioner that we need to put in the storage room.

This is the same hall, which had been mostly emptied of bags, having put many things away and trashed others.  And there are AT LEAST that many more bags still in the old apartment.  I am now beginning a major purge of stuff that I thought I could not live without.  Fortunately I have found some people who will take some things, but there is still much to be disposed of.

As far as the storage room off the "patio", when I looked out there today, it looks like it is about three feet square!  What is with that!!  The one at our other apartment was at least double that size.  Argh!  More stuff has to go.

The nice thing about the old apartment is that Dear One has emptied and cleaned the bedroom, two bathrooms, living room/dining area/kitchen area, including cleaning the refrigerator...most of this while I was at the office.  I am very grateful to him for taking that load off my mind.

People are Kind

It is my opinion that people are kind for the most part.  When I see acts of kindness, it makes me want to be kinder myself.

When we started moving into our new apartment, the first thing I saw was this on the refrigerator:

That made my day.  And still does.  Moving makes me need lots of smiles....

Sauerkraut and Pizza?

Tonight was a night for quick and easy food.  I went over to the old apartment and loaded up, and I DO mean loaded up, my carrying bag with refrigerator things and some things from the cupboard.  Also I filled the ice chest with freezer things.  I managed to go down the stairs backwards moving the loads from step to step.  At the bottom I realized I needed to call for help.  Dear One answered the call and rescued me in a flash.

When I got back to the new apartment he had a frozen pizza almost ready to eat.  I put a big slug of sauerkraut from Verboort into the microwave.  When the pizza was done and cut, I covered one piece with sauerkraut and ate it. 

Very very good tasting!  About as good as pizza with dill pickles on it...and that is a winner every time!

Now my question is:  does the warmed up sauerkraut nutritionally take away the curse of the cheese and white flour badness on the pizza? I hope so.

Munchie Monday: Souping Up Meals with Boxes

With the end of the mission coming (June 2019), and with moving to a different apartment, I have thought of doing things a little easier.  Thus this meal!

Dear One likes boxed macaroni and cheese for some reason.  Since we had two boxes I decided to make a meal that would cover us for two dinners with maybe lunch leftovers.

This is what I did:

2 boxes (7 ounces) Macaroni and Cheese Dinner mix
1 bag of Gardein Veggie Crumbles
Salted water for boiling
6 Tablespoons butter
1/2 half cup milk

1.  Start water boiling.  Add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to the water.
2.  Add the macaroni from the two boxes and cook until done to our preference.
3. Drain macaroni, but don't rinse it,  and put in a large bowl.
4.  In the meantime, while the pasta cooks,  put the Gardein Crumbles in a glass bowl with 1/3 cup water and cook on high in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Since it was not completely hot, I cooked another minute.
5.  Put 6 Tablespoons butter in the bowl of pasta along with 1/2 cup milk and the cheese packet. Stir well until butter is melted.
6.  Add the Crumbles, stir well, and serve.

We had this with French-cut green string beans, which are the only kind of green beans Dear One likes.

This was not a bad meal and it did make two dinners meals for each of us and one lunch for me since Dear One had had enough of it.

  If I can hold the line, I will not purchase much else for food while we are here. I want to use up (maybe in creative ways...!) all the food we have in our kitchen, though right now most of it is still in our old apartment.  Tonight I hope to pack up the rest of the cookware and move it either to our new apartment or to Goodwill bags.  Tomorrow I will be ready to move the canned goods, the remaining refrigerator and freezer food.  Once everything is in the new apartment I will decided what we keep and what we let go, and let it go sooner rather than later. I would love not to have a cluttered house any more. 

This is a whole new world for me!!!  Can I do it?!  I mean, can I really cut down to only the essentials?  Well, we shall see.

News/Address Change

This week three of our missionary couples departed the mission.  We are so sad to see them go but so happy they now home with their families.  One of the missionaries, Elder C (not Dear One who is also Elder C) fell a couple of weeks ago and badly broke his foot, the same foot that had previously been fixed with pins, etc, so he and Sister C went home for surgery and won't be returning.  Because our apartment lease is up this month, and their apartment lease is valid until next November, we are going to move into their apartment.  The best thing about that is that it is a GROUND FLOOR apartment!  No more scary icy stairs in the winter!  Not that we had more than three or four icy days last year, but...this year we had a few hundred geese in the park across from the office a month ago but they moved on. I am wondering if they know something we don't.  I hope not.  Last winter was so glorious.  And we had thousands of geese in the park last winter.

Anyway, we have a new address for the rest of our mission:

1400 NE Compton Drive, Suite 250-A
Hillsboro  OR 97006

This is the mission office address but it makes most sense to use that address.  At our current mailbox we receive mail for at least ten previous residents.  I hope not to have someone else have to forward mail to us when they move into our current apartment.

Today reminds me a bit of the week I went to the temple alone several years ago because Dear One stayed home to oversee the take-down and disposal of the log cabin we had lived in for 38 years.  I came home to a hole in the ground.  Today when I get home, many of the things in the apartment will have been moved to the new apartment. Then this evening and tomorrow the real work starts for me.  I had hoped to have the whole month to organize and dispose of the disposables and move a box a day over.  Well, maybe I still will but our internet is moving as of Monday so I am assuming we will be "in" on Monday night.  Yikes. 

This is a reminder that we are in the wind-down stage of our mission, too.

Paper Craft Ornaments

Recently I saw a person making triangular Christmas ornaments.  I had to try it.

Cut a piece of card stock that is twice as long as it is wide.  Example: 3 inches by 6 inches

Score across the center from long side to long side halfway down.  Example: at the 3 inch mark

Make a mark on the two short ends half way across. Example: at 1.5 inches

Line up the end mark with the mark at the middle and score diagonally from the end to the middle twice then turn and do the other end.

Fold along score lines.

With a paper punch, punch holes in ends.

Fold the two flaps together then hold so you can make them treat-filled.

Add one or two or more treats (example: Hershey's kisses) then tie up through the punched holes.

Quite fun and when people take the tree down, they will get a surprise treat!  If they think to look inside and discover why the ornaments are heavy....

Christmas Zone Conference

Christmas celebrating in the mission is different from last year.  All the Christmas packages are supposed to go to the missionaries in their own apartments, though I have my doubts as to how that will go judging by the number of boxes that have already arrived in the mission office....

Last year we had an all-mission Christmas gathering.  This year we had two zone conferences with half of the missionaries in each conference.  I got to pack up the gifts for the missionaries from the President and his family...a small job.  I also got to prepare and preside over a hot chocolate bar.

Here is a picture of the Christmas packages that were put in the back of the mission pickup truck.

Don't you just love apple boxes?!!  They are sturdy and tall enough for gift bags without mashing the handles.

The hot chocolate bar was mostly a success.  The first day I had plugged the two hot water urns into a power strip.  I did not learn until the activity was almost complete that the water was only lukewarm.  It had been hot at the beginning, but apparently the power strip was tripped by the two urns and shut off. I did not notice this and no one mentioned the water was not hot to me.  However, the second day I move the table close enough to the wall that we could plug directly into the outlet.  This time the issue was the opposite:  I was concerned the water would be boiling hot, so I unplugged for fifteen minutes.

For toppings we had canned whipped cream-very popular, also mini marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, evaporated milk, hazelnut creamer, mini candy canes, and peanut butter.  Almost everyone was flabbergasted to have peanut butter but everyone who tried it seemed to like it.

The sacred program of music and speakers was touching and inspiring.

The Fort Vancouver Knitting Guild Charity Hat Knitting Adventure

The Fort Vancouver Knitting Guild are wonderful people who do a lot of good works.  Because I went to one of their meetings they kindly send me their newsletter and invitations to participate in charity knitting.

Several weeks ago they sent me two skeins of 100% Merino wool that was spun in Turkey. It is a lovely walnut color.  I was thrilled to receive the yarn since I committed myself to refraining from purchasing new yarn until all that I currently have on hand has been knitted up...which so far I have stuck to...thus, since the hat project had to be in wool yarn and all the wool I have is committed to other projects I was not going to be able to help out without their yarn contribution.

Well,  Dear One was very happy to help me wind the yarn.  He held the yarn and I wound it with the Stanwood winder (which I LOVE and recommend highly).  This started out as a quick and easy project for the first few winds then the issues began to arise.  The yarn was not evenly skeined up!  What a bust!  Even changing the positioning of the yarn on Dear One's hands did not improve things.  After a LONG time we got the first skein wound. I had decided to let the other one alone but Dear One said he was happy to continue helping so I thought, "Why not?"  Well, that was the wrong idea.

The second skein was even worse! Way more tangles.

We worked on it for another fifteen minutes then it was so tangled that I finally got out my good Gingher scissors and cut it off and excused Dear One.

A few days later I went back into the work room and started untangling the yarn so I could eventually wind it up into a cake.  After pulling from one end until there was not possible way to go on, I searched for the other end of the skein and finally found it, started pulling from that end and eventually had probably ten yards of yarn on the floor, another ten yards over the ironing board, and me in the middle with an almost impossible tangle in the my hands.  After a while, even I gave up for a while and went about my regular business (which included working on the hat) and left the work room for a couple of days. 

Twice I went back in and eased out another yard or two of yarn from each end.  There was still a good-sized tangle, maybe another twenty or thirty yards, when Saturday came.  I went out to do a few errands, leaving Dear One home to rest and do whatever he does when I am away.  When I returned it was obvious that he had vacuumed the floors.  I thanked him for doing that.  He then told me that he had had a terrible time vacuuming the work room because "someone left a heap of yarn on the floor and it got sucked into the rollers of the vacuum cleaner."  OH NO!!  I was going to finish untangling that yarn.  Well, that job is now over!

Here is the finished hat.

Here is the pattern.

Cast on 84 stitches of wool knitting worsted weight (size 4) with US Size 6 16-inch circular needles.  K2, P2 ribbing for 4 inches.  Switch to stockinette stitch for another 5.5 inches then start the crown decreases.
Crown decreases:  K10, K2tog around, Knit 1 round.  K9, K2tog around, Knit 1 round. Repeat the decreases going down one stitch and following with a plain knit round until you have done your K1, K2 tog around.  By this time you should probably only have a dozen stitches.  Knit 2tog around then cut yarn and pull through all stitches and tie off inside.  Weave in ends and you have a hat.

This is a very easy hat to knit and comes out a nice smallish adult or teen hat.  Because it is so easy to knit, and easy to remember the pattern, I will probably knit another one sometime.

Munchie Monday: Watery Goo--Good Stuff for Weight Loss Maybe

We have a new missionary couple in the mission office.  They are taking the place of our dear Elder and Sister J who depart for home this week after eighteen months of fabulous service.  We will miss the J's terribly but are so happy they will be home with their family soon.

New Sister C told me of her breakfast and it piqued my interest. I decided to try it myself, but thought I would use it for my supper/evening eating instead of in the morning since evening is the time I go crazy with snacking sometimes.

This is what she uses, with my own variation:

1 packet of Amazing Grass's Green Superfood powder
1 packet of Emergen-C
1 Tablespoon of flaxseed meal
1 capful of raw apple cider vinegar
A few unsalted almonds
16 ounces of water

Blend these up in a high-speed, or other, blender until completely smooth.  Drink up. 

She also puts in some walnuts and some aloe vera juice, but as I don't currently have them in the kitchen, did not add them.  Put the water in the blender jar first.

This makes a nice watery goo that is great for sipping.  There are several "beauties" to this.  The first is that it is easy to prepare and you just have to wash the blender jar and lid and your glass.  The second is that you can prepare it in advance and refrigerate for later consumption.  The third is that it does not taste half bad for something that has only good ingredients in it.  Even Dear One thought it was okay.  The disadvantage is that the handy little packets of the Green Superfood are going to be discontinued by Costco (as evidenced by the"7" as the last digit of the price....)sometime soon, and then we would have to purchase online for a much greater cost.

The picture shows the green watery goo that is almost gone.  My practice has been  to get home from the office, as quickly as possible make something for Dear One to eat, then blend up my drink, collapse in my knitting chair and sip this during the entire evening.  (Mostly evenings are spent like a slug in the chair...knitting or reading a Spanish language manual or watching a little television or listening to an audio book.) The one glitch is that this being mostly water, after some time it separates into a light sludge at the bottom of the glass, a layer of straight sort of dirty-ish water, and a final layer of floaty things. This is aesthetically unpleasing but with a quick shake goes back into a nice homogenized beverage.

It works for me, as far as food consumption in the evening.  Now we shall see if it really does assist in weight loss instead of weight gain over the winter...I have only just started.